Choices
by cag45
Summary: The McFadden's are screaming in my ear for their part in this story. I hope each reader can enjoy a taste of their favorite McFadden as it continues. The upcoming chapters have a lot of dialogue. I try very hard to stay true to the voices of the actors that portrayed these characters in the show. Please share with me in your reviews if you think I've truly captured them. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

CHOICES

Guthrie McFadden knew darned well that he had no business being where he was at the moment. At thirteen however, a boy just had to push some boundaries now and then. Besides, his peers enjoyed torturing him by calling him a goodie goodie. Guthrie hated it. Even though his older brothers filled him with praise for doing the right thing all the time, it didn't exactly balance out the torment he would feel at school when the other guys his age tormented him and called him a sissy. It was bad enough that he was the only boy in school that didn't like to hunt. He had a soft spot for the beautiful animals that others killed for sport. All of his brothers hunted too, though the McFaddens obeyed the hunting seasons and hunted strictly to put meat on the table, meat that he felt obliged to consume, though it still didn't set right with him to hunt an animal down and kill it. So when his friends from school taunted him about refusing to go into the old mine shaft with them, Guthrie felt so alone and so lame.

Big brother Adam had told him over and over again that the numerous mine shafts that littered the countryside in Carbon County were off limits to him. They were off limits to all the McFadden boys, no matter what age. Guthrie knew why, too and had tried to tell his friends about the dangers of going into a mine. He reminded them of what had happened to his brother Daniel last year after the collapse of the Howling Man Mine. Guthrie shuddered remembering back to how his family almost lost his older brother to a brain injury. He too reminded his friends of how he himself, along with Jenny Barrett and his brothers Evan and Ford had been trapped in that mine for two days and how awful it had been. But all they had done is laugh and call him chicken.

"You're such a baby, Guth." Geez, this mine has never collapsed. It's not as big as Howling Man, but if we hear rumbling, we have plenty of time to get out." Billy Jeffries taunted. "And my brother Joey has spelunked in this mine lots of time...with your brother Daniel, as a matter of fact." Billy added.

"Yeah," Alex Carter chimed in. "Your brother Daniel ain't never been scared to go into a mine. Besides, he wouldn't have got hurt at all if you guys would've followed him out instead of lagging behind and goofing off. Jenny told me all about it." Alex said haughtily.

"You weren't there! You don't know jack about anything!" Guthrie exclaimed, feeling his hands forming into fists at his side. Guthrie knew that Billy and Alex were just bored and were looking for something to do. He himself loved a good adventure. But it seemed like every time he went out seeking a little fun, one of his brothers...or Hannah, had something negative to say about it.

"I promised my brothers... all of them, that I wouldn't mess around in these mines anymore. Besides, I've been in this silly old mine before with Eddie. There's nothin' in there that I ain't seen lots of times already." Guthrie continued.

"Alright, alright. Then prove you're not scared. Just go in with us this once and then we'll leave you alone about it, McFadden." Billy said.

7bf7b

"Where the heck is Guthrie?" Evan grumbled when Daniel entered the barn.

"I dunno? Off being thirteen I guess." Daniel replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Why?" he then asked Evan.

"Cause he was supposed to be here an hour ago. It's his turn to muck out the stables!" Evan replied, his tone full of agitation.  
"So, let's muck out the stables for him." Daniel offered.

"No way. I'm not doing his work on top of my own!" Evan complained.

"Come on. What's it gonna hurt you? Don't you remember being thirteen? When we were his age, Brian and Crane covered for us all the time. They kept us out of a heap of trouble with Dad remember?" Daniel said.

"Yeah, well I have a problem covering for the little pip squeak that tells on me every time I come in late from a date." Evan complained.

"Oh, come on. Grow up, would you?" Daniel said with a smirk.

"That's just it. I am grown, but Adam still expects me to be in at a certain time. I mean, I'm finished with high school now and besides, when you were my age, you didn't have any curfews. You used to come in at three in the morning and Adam didn't say anything about it." Evan said with his voice laced with hostility.

"Oh, he gave me a hard time. Don't kid yourself. But at least I was out late because I was working... and getting paid. Plus, I still got up on time and did my job every day, and I still do." Daniel corrected.

"Only because Crane has your back. He makes sure you don't oversleep. Ford doesn't extend me the same courtesy." Evan growled.

"Hey, don't hate me for having the better roommate!" Daniel said with his silly high-pitched laugh. "You should have trained him better, like I did!" He said, still laughing out loud.

"Well, I don't get you man. You have all the sympathy in the world for Guthrie, but none for me." Evan said.

"Hey, I have sympathy for you. I've been there, done that and have the tshirt to prove it. But, I'm not your keeper. You're a grown up now, remember?"

Daniel replied. "Now stop with the sour grapes and grab a shovel. It won't take us twenty minutes if we knock it out together. Adam won't know the difference." Daniel said, punching his younger brother in the arm.

"Alright." Evan grumbled. "But this is the last time I cover for him, unless he starts showing me some loyalty."

Daniel rolled his eyes, picked up two shovels and pitched one to Evan.

7bf7b

"Hannah, Have you seen Guthrie?" Adam said as he entered the living room from the porch.

Hannah turned to her husband and smiled sweetly. "It's nice to see you too, sweetheart!" She said coyly.

"I'm sorry, hon." Adam replied, reaching out to kiss his wife. "That boy has gotten into a bad habit of coming home late from school without bothering to let any of us know where he's going...or who he's with, for that matter." Adam replied, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

"I know, Adam. But he's a good kid. He rarely ever gets into trouble." Hannah replied in a soft tone, hoping it would calm her agitated husband's tone down a bit.

"Honey, I know he's a good kid, but I'm not too thrilled with his choice of friends these days." That Carter boy is lacking common sense and that other kid Billy is even worse! Daniel used to hang out with his older brother and I never knew what those two were up too. And I'll tell ya, it was usually no good. I must have talked myself blue in the face with Joey's dad a thousand times and all he ever had to say was boys will be boys, Adam. Let 'em have a little fun." Adam complained.

"Adam, Guthrie is smart. He has enough common sense for all three of them. I'm not sayin' that you don't have every right to worry and I know Guthrie is in the wrong here. He should check in with us, so I do think we should have a talk with him." Hannah said before Adam cut her off.

"You're darned right we're gonna have a talk with him. I don't have time to go off looking for him day after day. He knows how much work there is to do around here." Adam replied as he walked over and sat down at his desk and began sorting through the papers stacked neatly there as Crane had left them earlier. "I don't have time to talk about it anymore. I told Crane I'd go over these bills before supper. But Guthrie had better be here before we sit down to eat, or he's gonna be grounded for two weeks." Adam said matter of factly.

"I'm sure he will, honey. But just remember that I said we need to talk to him, not yell at him. We have to remember to give him a chance to explain himself before we condemn him, alright?" Hannah said as she walked over to rub Adam's shoulders. She leaned over and whispered softly in his ear.

"You know you tend to judge before you hear their testimony, right? And you promised me you would work on that, remember?" Hannah said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, planting a soft kiss just above Adam's ear.

"Yeah, I remember, honey. That's why I love you so much. You keep me in line." He replied as he pulled her in so that he could kiss her on the lips.

He sighed, then let her go, succumbing to the pleasure of Hannah's impromptu back rub. He didn't enjoy feeling as old as he felt right now. His younger brothers had effectively made an old man of him. He was even starting to find gray hairs in his head and he wasn't even thirty years old. He sighed again, thinking of how he had another five years before his youngest brother would be eighteen. He pondered whether or not he'd even have any hair left in his head by then, be it grey or brown.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Daniel took one look at Adam and instinctively he knew that somebody was in trouble. He searched his mind quickly trying to remember if he himself had done anything recently to piss off his eldest brother. Feeling fairly confident that he was in the clear, he closed the front door behind him and stepped into the living room, intending to head to the staircase, unobserved.

"You seen Guth anywhere?" Adam asked Daniel, getting up from the couch.

"I saw him get off the bus earlier. I think he's around somewhere." Daniel answered carefully with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't want to be the one to get his baby brother into trouble. Besides, he was telling the truth. He just didn't bother to share the fact that he saw Guthrie take off with a couple of his buddies right after he got off the bus.

"I'll go find him for you." Daniel continued, as he backed toward's the door.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. Tell him to come see me. He hasn't checked in with me all afternoon and he know's he is supposed to do that." Adam replied grumpily.

"Okay, I'll tell him." Daniel replied and hurried out the door to search for Guthrie.

7bf7b

"This is so cool!" Alex exclaimed.

"I know, right? I told you so." Billy added, looking around the dark walls of the cave. He wasn't about to admit that Guthrie was right. There wasn't anything special inside the mine. It was too dark to really see anything, but Alex seemed sufficiently impressed, so Billy figured he'd go along.

"It's no big deal. I've seen it dozens of times." Guthrie replied, looking over his shoulder. He had already turned from his friends and was heading toward the opening of the mine. If he was being honest with himself, he would have to admit that his anxiety had been building with every step he had taken since entering that mine. He was worried that someone in his family would find out he had been there. On top of that, just being underground in this dark, cold shaft was bringing back some terrible memories. These friends of his didn't know what it felt like to be trapped underground. They had no idea how horrible it felt to struggle to breathe because you are running out of air, or to be hungry and thirsty and not be able to do a thing about it. Guthrie found himself shivering from the memory. The guilt was continuing to build until Guthrie felt it was going to completely consume him. He knew how disappointed his family would be to find out he had pulled this stupid stunt...and for what? To impress a couple of classmates? Adam would ground him for life. He didn't even want to think about what Daniel would think of him.

"Hey Guthrie. Wait up!" Billy shouted from behind him. Guthrie heard the footsteps of his buddies running to catch up to him. He knew his own behavior had effected them, even though he knew they'd never admit it. They were so determined to show everybody at school how big and bad they were. In that moment, Guthrie realized something he hadn't considered before now.

"Hey, if you guys plan on telling everybody that you came in here, do me a favor and leave my name out of it." Guthrie said, stopping at the entrance to look back at his friends.

"Whatever, McFadden. Nothin' happened worth tellin' anyhow." Alex replied.

"Look Guthrie, nobody's gonna find out you were in here, so just chill out, okay?" Billy said, shaking his head.

"Good." Guthrie replied.

7bf7b

Daniel had checked almost run out of ideas on where to look for his youngest brother. The kid had lots of adventure spots and most of them he had learned from Ford, who had learned of them by tagging along behind Daniel and Evan. The only places left to look for Guthrie was down by the creek bed and the old Dixon mine. Daniel was hoping the boys had decided to go wading...maybe catch some tadpoles or minnows. He was about halfway down the path leading to the mine when he heard voices coming towards him from the direction of the creek.

"Is that you Guth?" Daniel shouted.

Guthrie's heart leaped into his throat. "That's Daniel. Don't you guys dare say a word about the mine, you got it?"

"We won't." Alex replied. Billy shook his head to indicate that he wasn't gonna talk.

"Daniel, It's me. I'm comin' up!" Guthrie shouted back and took off in a sprint to put more distance between himself and the mine entrance.

"Hey kid!" Daniel replied with a smile._ "Dad's_ lookin' for ya." He continued with a silly giggle.

"Oh gosh, I guess I lost track of time. I guess he's mad about my chores?" Guthrie asked.

"He's mad 'cause you didn't check in with him. What'chall been doin' down here?" Daniel inquired.

"Uh, we were...we were exploring by the creek." Alex offered.

"Well, this is a first. Guthrie can't go anywhere near the water without gettin' wet." Daniel said with a grin.

"I tried hard not to get wet, so Adam wouldn't know I've been off loafing." Guthrie said, looking at his feet. He always had a hard time lying to any of his family.

"Well, I think he's figured you out. Evan and me did your chores, so you might wanna thank him when we get home. Oh, and Adam doesn't know we did 'em so don't give it away." Daniel said, eying his youngest sibling.

"Okay, thanks Daniel." Guthrie offered.

"No biggie. You weren't foolin' around in the mine were ya?" Daniel asked, suspecting that he wasn't getting the truth out of the boys. They were all acting like they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Nah, I know better Daniel." Guthrie lied again, feeling horrible about himself.

"Guthrie, don't lie to me, you understand?" Daniel asked, putting his hand underneath Guthrie's chin and forcing the boy to look him in the eye.

"No, I'm not." Guthrie said coolly, wearing his most innocent face. He hated lying to his brother, but he hated Daniel minding his business even more. Guthrie could feel the resentment building within him.

"Okay. Well, I guess we'd better be gettin' home. You'll have to go talk to Adam. Maybe if we make it back before supper, he'll go easy on ya." Daniel said smiling as he ruffled Guthrie's hair, hoping the boy was being straight up with him.

"Stop messing with my hair Daniel. I'm not a little kid anymore." Guthrie complained.

"I know. You're worse than that. You're a teenager!" Daniel said rolling his eyes as he turned to walk back up the path.

"So are you." Guthrie groaned.

"True, but I'm on my way outta my teens and you're just gettin' into yours. If you start makin' bad choices, your teenage years are gonna go by real, real slow...like mine has." Daniel said with a smirk. "You boy's better head home too." Daniel said to Billy and Alex.

"Tell Joey I said hey when you see him." Daniel yelled after Billy.

"Okay, I will. See ya at school Guthrie!" Billy said with a wave of his hand.

"See ya." Guthrie answered.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

"I'm home Adam." Guthrie said softly to his eldest brother.

"Just where in the heck have you been? You know better than to run off without checking in with Hannah or me!" Adam said, getting up from the pile of paperwork on the desk. "What's gotten into you?" Adam asked angrily.

"I'm sorry Adam. I've been down by the creek, with Alex and Billy. I kinda lost track of time. I didn't mean to be gone this long, honest." Guthrie replied. He figured it wasn't a total lie. He was by the creek, true enough and it was the same information that he had given Daniel.

"Are your chores done yet?" Guthrie gulped and looked over his shoulder at Daniel making sure he was going to keep their little secret. Daniel slightly nodded his head at the youngster, then Guthrie quickly turned back to Adam and replied, "yep, all done."

"Well, this is the last time you pull a stunt like this. Next time you run off without reporting in, you will be grounded...two weeks and no discussion about it." Adam stated emphatically.

"Yes sir." Guthrie replied quietly then walked away from his brothers' and into the kitchen. Maybe Hannah would be more pleasant to hang around. He knew it was his turn to set the table for dinner anyway. Guthrie hated being bossed around by all six brothers. He just hated being the youngest. At least Hannah seemed to sympathize with him...most of the time.

"Well, I think you were very fair, _Dad_." Daniel said with a smile.

"Don't. Call. Me. Dad!" Adam said, putting emphasis on each word.

"Sorry, but you did sound an awful lot like Ward Cleaver getting onto the Beav! At least, a grumpier version of Ward." Daniel replied with his silly high pitched laugh.

Adam reached out and took a playful swing at his middle brother, missing him by a hair as Daniel leaped up to the bottom step of the staircase and proceeded to bound up them, taking two and three steps at a time.

Adam couldn't help but grin. It was certainly good to see Daniel even be able to maneuver that well on the stairs. He shuddered thinking back to a time when that wouldn't have even been possible for Daniel to do.

Which is exactly why Adam was so concerned with all the younger boys whereabouts these days. They had suffered enough tragedy for one lifetime and Adam had no appetite for any more. He was determined to keep a vigil eye on all of them. No one was gonna be risking life and limb on his watch.

Adam let out a tired breath and decided to join Guthrie and Hannah in the kitchen. He was sure Guthrie intended to wash up and maybe help Hannah set the table. That boy did anything he could to stay in Hannah's good graces. She was his number one go to person when he was trying to get out of trouble and she usually obliged him too, Adam thought to himself while scratching his head. His dear sweet wife would walk a mile to get his baby brother out of trouble...especially if he was in trouble with Adam. He shook his head in exasperation at the thought.

7Bf7B

Supper was as lively as usual, for the most part, with the exception of a brooding Guthrie. Ford and Evan had done their best to get a conversation going with him, but their attempts were by the way of teasing.

Guthrie wasn't having any of it though. He ate heartily enough, but Hannah noticed him being much quieter and moodier than normal.

"Since when did you eat less than three hamburgers in one sitting Guth?" She asked the boy, trying to sound unconcerned. She had been corrected numerous times by him saying to her 'quit fussin' over me like I'm a little kid', so she usually tried a more nonchalant approach.

"I wanted _cheeseburgers_." Guthrie complained.

"I realize that but Brian forgot to pick up any cheese at the market today." Hannah offered as an explanation.

"Sorry there, partner. I got distracted by the new cashier. She looks a heap better than ol' Ms. Martin." He said, looking up at Daniel seated across from him, giving him a quick wink.

Adam rolled his eyes at Brian and then looked at Guthrie and said "Guthrie, don't be ungrateful. Hannah works hard fixin' supper every night. It's not gonna hurt you to do without a slice of cheese."

"I didn't say it hurt me. I just don't like it as much without the cheese." Guthrie replied without looking up from his plate. He then realized how hateful he sounded. Not wanting to Hurt Hannah, he looked over at her and added, "but they taste real good Hannah, they really do."

"Well, thank you Guthrie. Next time I'll make sure we have cheese before I decided to make burgers.

"Hey Bri, did you get that cashier's number?" Evan asked with a grin.

"Does a bear sh-" Brian began but stopped short, remembering his sister in law was present. "Course I did." He replied smugly.

All the boys and Hannah snickered at Brian's near slip up.

After supper was finished and the table was cleared, Ford and Guthrie were tending to the dishes. It was actually Daniel's and Ford's turn, but Daniel had wanted to skip out early for band rehearsal. He asked Guthrie to take his place, to which at first, Guthrie had refused.

"Come on Guth. I helped you out earlier, remember? You owe me one." Daniel had whispered to his baby brother.

Guthrie was trapped and he knew it, so he had begrudgingly relented. It didn't take long for Ford to get on his nerves.

"Hey, stop splashing me!" He shouted as Ford purposely dropped a bowl hard into the water, getting the front of Guthrie's shirt all wet.

"Told you to wear the apron!" Ford said, laughing.

"Stop acting stupid, for Pete's sake!" Guthrie exclaimed.

"Who's Pete?" Evan laughed as he walked by and heard the exchange.

"Guthrie, you know better than that. We don't call each other stupid in this house!" Hannah scolded.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm sick of everybody picking on me all the time."

"Okay guys, can we just lighten up on the teasing so we can enjoy our evening, please?" Adam scolded, walking up to Guthrie and tapping him on the shoulder, then added. "Would you settle down a bit, sport? What's got you so wound up tonight?"

"I just want to be left alone. I wish I were an only child." Guthrie grumbled.

Still standing behind Guthrie at the sink, Adam said"Well, that would make things a lot different around here, I suppose. But if you think about it, it sounds kinda boring, dont'cha think?"

"Doesn't sound boring to me. Sounds like Heaven." Guthrie replied.

"You know Guthrie, we all tease each other. We don't mean to hurt one another's feelings. Is there anything in particular bothering you?" Crane asked. He had been quietly listening to the exchange as he sat at the table, tuning his favorite guitar. He was hoping to get his little brother to open up a bit.

"No, nothin's bothering me. I'm just tired of being picked on." Guthrie whined.

"Okay, fair enough. We won't pick on you." Crane said.

"Much." Brian piped in and Crane and Ford both began to giggle.

"That's enough guys. Come on, leave it alone." Adam said in his best fatherly tone. The rest of the evening was quieter than usual. Everyone's mood had been dampened by Guthrie's behavior.

Each family member spent the evening pondering to themselves what in the world could be eating Guthrie. The kid usually relished in being included in the teasing.

Until recently, his biggest complaint had been being ignored by everyone. At least when the older boys were teasing him, he seemed to feel that he was "included".

Hannah had pointed that fact out to all of the boys plenty of times. No one knew where this change of attitude was coming from, but no one else dared to ask the boy anything further.

Adam had spoken and everyone decided that for the sake of self preservation, they would let sleeping dogs lie for now.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

A little over a week had gone by since Guthrie got in trouble for not checking in with Adam and Hannah.

Today was Saturday and he had made plans with Ford and his friend and neighbor Eddie to go fishing.

He had even asked permission.

He wasn't really happy about having to ask to do what he wanted on a Saturday, but he figured to go along with the rules and save himself any hassles.

In the last week though, he'd been pushed around by all of his brothers...especially Evan.

Evan had made sure to let Guthrie know that he was in debt to him. Then, last night Evan had come home late...two hours late from a date.

Guthrie didn't let his brother know that he saw him sneaking in at 2:00 a.m., but this morning at the breakfast table, Evan and Ford had both been picking on Guthrie.

Evan was laughing at him about making eyes at a girl on the school bus.

Crane and Brian were laughing it up as Evan shared the scoop with them.

Hannah smiled sweetly and tried to console Guthrie by telling him that he had good taste. "Amanda is a beautiful girl. I can understand why you'd be lookin' at her Guth." Hannah had offered.

"Yeah, if you're nearsighted!" Evan laughed and Ford, seated next to Guthrie, elbowed his youngest brother.

It didn't help that Daniel started crooning a Waylon Jennings love song entitled Amanda.

It all had become too much as Evan, sitting across the table from Guthrie, put both hands over his heart and started singing harmony.

"Yeah, well at least if I took a girl out on a date, I'd come home in time for curfew, Mr. two hours late!" Guthrie yelled at Evan, his face beet red.

It was Evan's turn to go beat red when Adam spoke up. "Listen up, all of ya. No more yelling at this table. I've heard enough. Evan, did you break curfew again?" Adam asked, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Evan, pointing his fork at the boy.

"Sorry Adam. Yeah, Cassie forgot her house key and I had to wait until her folks got home." Evan offered.

"So, if I call Mr. Johnson, he can confirm that he was out late and found you and his daughter waiting to get in the house?" Adam asked Evan.

"Okay Adam. I lied. We just missed curfew. I'm sorry. I won't let it happen again." Evan stated hopefully.

"Darned right you won't. At least not for the next two weekends. You can stay home for the next two Friday and Saturday nights. No dates. You can go to rodeo classes, but that's it.

"Adam, you can't do that! I'm seventeen years old! I'm too old for grounding!" Evan yelled, throwing his napkin onto his plate and jumping up from his chair.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You wanna make it three weekends?" Adam said with a scowl.

"You don't ground anybody else! Look at Daniel, he comes and goes as he pleases!" Evan said, continuing his rant.

"Daniel works at night and he's over eighteen, and he has his high school diploma!" Adam yelled, breaking his own rules about table manners.

"Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits!" Daniel exclaimed reaching both hands towards the ceiling. He was hoping to bring some levity to this heated argument.

"Oh shut up!" Evan yelled, his attention turning now to Daniel.

"Hey, why don't you shut up? And stop trying to drag me under the bus with ya, huh?" Daniel yelled.

"Fellas, fellas. Let's settle down. We're trying to have breakfast here." Crane interjected. Hannah had already uprooted herself from her spot and walked over and put her arms on Adam's shoulders, trying to coax him to sit back down. Guthrie sat quietly, satisfied immensely with himself.

It was good enough for Evan. He was sick of him picking on him.

"I'm not hungry!" Evan said, lowering his tone. "Excuse me, I have work to do." He said storming out through the mudroom and off to the barn.

"Well, I guess he don't want his biscuit." Brian said calmly, reaching over to take Evan's biscuit off of his abandoned plate.

"Don't mind if I do." Brian continued, smiling at Adam as though he were completely unaffected by the whole incident.

After that, everyone had eaten in silence. It wasn't long after they each walked outside that Ford had crawled all over Guthrie for snitching on Evan.

"You're a little snitch, you know that? We were only teasing. We all tease each other, but you're the only one that tries to get the rest of us in trouble.

Don't even think of asking me to hang out with you today. I'm not wasting my weekend playing with a baby." Ford continued. Guthrie watched, red faced as his brother closest in age to him stalked off towards the barn to join Evan.

"Fine, I don't wanna spend time with any of ya. I don't play, I'm too big to play and besides, I've got plenty of friends!" Guthrie yelled after Ford.

7bf7b

As Adam and Brian left the house to head out to the barn, they saw Guthrie standing near the paddock. "Whatcha up to squirt?" Adam asked his youngest sibling.

"I'm fixin' to meet up with Eddie to go fishin'. You said I could go, remember?" Guthrie replied.

"Yeah, as I recall I did say you and Ford could go fishing with Eddie." Adam replied.

Guthrie knew he had to think fast to pull one over on his overprotective brother. He didn't suspect there was a good reason for Adam to not let him go fishing without Ford, but lately, Adam had been so overprotective, Guthrie decided not to take a chance on blowing it.

"Uh, yeah that's right, me, Ford and Eddie. Ford's in the barn now. I guess he's getting his fishin' gear. I'm just kinda waitin' around for him." Guthrie lied.

"Well, you remind Ford that I need you two back here by one o'clock. Don't be any later than that. I want y'all to grab some lunch as soon as you get back and then check in with Crane. He has a list of chores for you both to do for the rest of the afternoon." Adam said.

"Alright." Guthrie answered him glumly.

" Hey Guthrie?" You might wanna steer clear of Evan for the rest of the day, too partner." Brian chimed in. "I think he had a hot date with a cheerleader tonight, but you messed that up for him." He added with a chuckle.

"Evan messed that up for himself." Adam corrected Brian. "But speaking of that. Guthrie, I don't want you becoming a tattle tale. That was a pretty mean thing of you to do, wouldn't you agree?" Adam asked.

"Well, you're the one that told us that you wanna know where we are and what we're doin' at all times." Guthrie replied, perhaps with a little too much sass in his voice.

"You be careful how you talk to me young man. And that's not the point. Now, Evan was in the wrong for breaking curfew and for lying to me, but you only decided to tell on him when you got angry with his teasing and that's a mean thing to do to your brother." Adam said then continued, "how would you like it if it were the other way around?"

"It's no worse than having all your brothers bossing you around all day." Guthrie said sticking his hands in his pockets and kicking at the dirt beneath him.

That statement brought a chuckle from Brian, much to Adam's dismay.

"Guthrie, I know you have a hard time being the youngest, but we're all just looking out for you, understand?" Adam said, reaching out and pulling Guthrie's chin up so he could look him in the eye.

"You don't have it so bad, you know? We also are here when you need anything and we would do anything in the world for you. I hope you know that. Not everybody in this world can say they have that. There's folks out there that don't have anybody. What do you think?" Adam said.

Guthrie looked at Brian first, who gave him a wink, then back to Adam and replied, "yeah, I know."

"Good. Cause we love you and all we want is what's best for you. You'll be on your own soon enough. That's when life really gets hard. You'll see one day." Adam said.

"Okay Adam, okay." Guthrie replied. He was losing interest, and his patience, in yet another big brother lecture. Adam may as well have been saying blah, blah, blah, because this particular little brother was fed up with lectures.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Eddie was waiting for his friends at the creek as planned. He smiled and waved when he saw Guthrie walking towards him, fishing gear in hand.  
"Hey Guth! Where's Ford?" Eddie asked.

"He changed his mind about fishin' today." Guthrie answered.

"Oh, well more for us to catch." Eddie replied with a grin.

The boys fished for a few hours. At first, the fish were biting pretty well. Each of them caught a few, but not of any size worth bragging about.

Then, the wind picked up and the fish quit biting. They decided to skip rocks, but after a while, they got bored.

Guthrie suggested they release what they'd caught, since they didn't have enough to make a meal. Eddie agreed.

"What do we do now?" Eddie asked.

"Go home, I guess. It's time for lunch anyways. I'm supposed to be home at one." Guthrie replied.

"Aww, come on. I don't wanna go home yet. I'm not even hungry. Hey, let's go down to the swimming hole and see if anybody's down there." Eddie suggested.

"I don't know. That's a long way from here. I'm gonna be late as it is."

"Come on Guthrie. Live a little. We'll just stay a little while, then we'll head back. You won't be too late." Eddie begged.

Guthrie thought about it for a few seconds. He didn't want anymore trouble with Adam, but he did want to go with Eddie. He decided that if he were going to get in trouble for being late, he may as well have a little fun first. "Alright," he replied. "But we can't stay long, you got it?" Guthrie said.

"Yeah, I got it. Let's go!" Eddie said excitedly. They sat down their fishing gear and took off for the swimming hole.

Twenty minutes later, they reached their destination. Guthrie noticed his friends from school, Alex and Billy, along with Alex's brother Joey and a couple of Joey's high school friends.

"Hey guys!" Alex yelled out to Guthrie and Eddie. He was standing on the bank near the deepest end of the swimming hole. "Look at the rope!" He said excitedly, pointing upwards.

Guthrie looked over and saw a huge tow rope which had been tied to the limb of a huge oak tree that stood on the far bank.

The limb hung over the creek. That limb had always provided a nice shade over the deepest part of the creek, making the deep water cool even on the warmest summer day.

Adam and Brian had been bringing the boys to this favorite spot for years after a hard days work during the summer months, so they could cool off.

No one had ever thought to tie a rope there, but swinging off of it into the cool water did look quite inviting.

The limb was easy enough to climb up, but the depths of the swimming hole beneath it varied.

In some spots it was maybe eight to ten feet deep, while other spots were anywhere from four to six feet deep.

Guthrie imagined the variance in depths of the water coupled with the height of the limb, which had to be at least twelve feet, would make it a somewhat dangerous jump.

"Have you guys swung off of it yet?" Eddie inquired eagerly.

"Sure we've all gone once. You guys wanna try it?" Joey asked.

"It's kind of high." Guthrie said, noting his observations to the rest of the guys.

"It's an easy climb." Alex offered.

"I know that. I've climbed up there before. What I mean is it's a big drop to the water." Guthrie explained.

"Come on Guth! Let's try it out!" Eddie said excitedly.

"We could break our necks!" Guthrie said in protest.

"We'll jump feet first. It'll be fine" Eddie replied.

"Okay, then we could break our legs." Guthrie said in response.

"Come on. Don't be a baby. It's gonna be so cool. We don't have nothin' better to do!" Eddie offered, already pulling off his tshirt.

"Well...I just don't know about it." Guthrie replied again. There was that 'baby' reference again. He had heard it many times, both at school and at home. He was sick of it.

"Hey, little McFadden. Tell you what. I'll jump again and show you it's safe." Joey offered. "I bet Daniel would do it." The teen added.

_I bet Daniel wouldn't do it._ Guthrie thought to himself, but he said nothing in response.

7bf7b

Hannah made the last sandwich just in time to hear the brood of men coming into the house. She was expecting everyone except Evan, who was at his rodeo classes. Adam came into the kitchen first, washing up at the kitchen sink.

"Who told you it was okay to wash up in my kitchen, Mr. McFadden? Are you too good to wash up in the bathroom like everybody else?" She teased.  
"There's nobody waiting to kiss me in the bathroom." Adam replied with wink as he leaned in and gave Hannah a soft, slow kiss.

"Mmm, I hope those sandwiches taste as good as you do." he said.

"Not a chance." Hannah replied as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

Adam playfully patted her on the rear end then and she reached behind her and slapped him on the hand.

"That's enough. The children will catch us." Hannah said laughing.

"Ah, but it's up to us to teach 'em about the birds and the bees, isn't it Mrs. McFadden?" Adam replied.

"That bunch already knows way too much about the birds and the bees!" Hannah said laughing even harder now.

Adam released her just as Crane and Brian made their way to the table. Ford and Daniel entered just behind them. After everyone sat down, Adam noticed that Guthrie was missing.

"Where's Guthrie?" He asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I don't know." Daniel replied first. Brian shrugged his shoulders and Crane replied, "haven't seen him since breakfast."

"Actually, I was asking Ford. Didn't he come back from fishin' with you?" Adam asked.

"With me? I didn't go fishin'. I helped Daniel mend that fence and since then I've been in his bedroom with him." Ford replied.

"Yep. Ford here is writing himself a song. I've been helping him with the music." Daniel said in agreement.

"He told me you were both going." Adam replied, now clearly annoyed.

"We were, but after he tattled on Evan, I told him I didn't want to hang out with him." Ford replied.

"Now Adam, I'm sure he's just running a little late. I talked to Sophie on the phone earlier and she said Eddie had gone fishing with Guthrie. They're probably catching supper for us." Hannah offered.

"Now don't go defending him. I specifically told him to be back for lunch. I don't have time to stop what I'm doing every five minutes to go looking for a missing brother." Adam grumbled. "We have a ranch to run. I expect everybody to pull their weight and I expect you all to be on time." He continued, slamming his hat down onto the table.

"Adam, He's fine. Come on, you've been wound up a little tight lately. It's not that unusual for Guthrie to be late. He doesn't wear a watch." Daniel said.

"Yeah and it's hard to tell the exact time without one. He'll turn up in a little bit. You need to ease up a little, you're just working yourself up for no good reason." Brian added.

"I know. But he lied to me. It's just not like him." Adam said. "I just worry about all of you."

"We know!" Crane, Brian, Ford and Daniel all said in exact unison. Then they all erupted in laughter.

Everyone finished their lunch about twenty minutes later, but Guthrie had failed to show.

"I'll put a couple of sandwiches up for Guth." Hannah said as she got up to clear the table.

"And I'll help with the dishes fair lady." Crane said with a smile.

"Well, thank you kind sir." Hannah replied.

"No, don't save anything. The rules are the rules. You don't show up for a meal, you don't eat. He can wait til suppertime." Adam said grouchily as he put his hat on his head.

"Crane, you and Ford don't forget to clean the tack room. Guthrie was supposed to help, but since he seems to have better things to do, he can work for me when he gets home. If any of you see him-"

"Send him to you." Daniel finished.

Adam shot Daniel an agitated look but decided to let it go. "Look, me and Brian found a couple of bad spots on the fence line that need patching, but they're up near Haney's Pass. I thought about sending you up to help him, but since you have a gig tonight, I guess I'll go back and help him instead." Adam began.

"Thanks Adam." Daniel replied quickly, hoping not to give him a chance to change his mind.

"If you'll let me finish, please?" Adam said. Clearly Daniel had interrupted him again.

"Sorry." Daniel said with a giggle.

"I'll go with Brian if you'll go down to the creek and find Guth. Tell him I will talk to him this evening about being late...and lying. You tell him to help Crane and Ford in the tack room when he gets back."

"Okay _dad_." Daniel replied with a big grin. Okay, so now' he'd gone too far.

"Oh Daniel? When you get back _son,_ you mind giving Hannah a hand with the housework? She looks a little tired today." Adam said sarcastically.

"The housework? But Adam, I was gonna do a tune up on the truck, remember?" Daniel asked, clearly disturbed.

"Yeah, I know. You can do that _after_ you help Hannah. Honey, he's really good at folding clothes." Adam said, letting the screen slam behind him.

"Good!" Hannah laughed. "I did six loads of laundry this morning. They should be dry by the time you get back from the creek." Hannah said, patting Daniel on the shoulder.

"Great." Daniel said.

"Laundry, huh?" Crane said shooting Daniel a big grin. "That's good. At least you won't have to play guitar tonight with dishpan hands." He laughed.

"Oh you're a real funny guy, aren't ya?" Daniel grumbled as he headed for the front door.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

Guthrie gulped as he watched Eddie follow Alexs' brother Joey up the old oak tree. He wasn't afraid of climbing so much as he was afraid of swinging off the rope and jumping into the water.

If he thought about it though, Joey was going first and had already jumped and didn't get hurt. And Guthrie supposed it was just as easy to get hurt on the climb as it was to swinging off the rope.

He figured since he wasn't afraid to climb, he shouldn't be afraid to jump. But he'd climbed the tree before, with Ford, but he had gotten scolded for it later when Adam found out.

He remembered being a little afraid when he climbed up to that limb the first time, so he supposed it was just the unknown that was scaring him now. Nothing happened to him that time, so he figured nothing would happen to him this time.

He paused for a few more seconds, then took off his shirt and swam across to the far bank and began climbing up behind his friends.

When they all had reached the limb, Joey looked back and smiled at the younger boys.

"It's okay little McFadden. It's a piece of cake, just watch me and do what I do." Joey said, seeing fear on Guthrie's face. He leaned forward enough to reach the rope and grabbed it.

"I'm gonna dive this time, but you two just jump in feet first, got it?" Joey explained.

"Yeah. But do you think you should dive? I mean, what if you hit a shallow spot?" Guthrie asked nervously.

"That's why I want you guys to go feet first. I know just where to let go and I've already jumped and I hit the water just where I wanted." Joey explained. "Here goes nothing!" Joey leaped off the limb, grasping the rope.

7bf7b

Daniel followed the path down to Guthrie's favorite fishing spot. He found the boys' fishing gear, but the boys were no where to be found.

"Guthrie!" Daniel shouted. He listened for an answer but only heard the echo of his own voice.

"Eddie!" Daniel shouted again. Listening, but hearing nothing, he began to contemplate where they may be.

He followed the creek down stream a short distance when it occurred to him that his friend Joey had been at his show the previous night and had mentioned going to the swimming hole today.

Daniel knew that Guthrie was friends with Joey's little brother and took a long shot. He walked downstream headed to the swimming hole.

He heard voices before he saw anyone. As Daniel rounded the bend of the creek, he took in the sight of his friend Joey swinging off a huge rope and diving into the water.

What the heck is that fool doing? Daniel thought to himself. He couldn't help but laugh as his friend's head pop up from the dark water.

"You're crazy, you know that?" Daniel shouted laughingly at his friend.

"Hey McFadden. If I'm crazy, what does that make your kid brother?" Joey replied, pointing up to the tree limb.

Daniel looked back up and was mortified to see Guthrie and Eddie standing on the same limb Joey had just jumped from. It must be twelve, maybe fifteen feet above the water, Daniel surmised.

" Guthrie McFadden! You get down from there! You too Eddie!" Daniel shouted.

In the tree, Guthrie groaned. "Oh great! Now I'm in for it."

"Hey, he's not the boss of us." Eddie offered. "I'm jumpin'!"

"Don't Eddie! He'll tell Adam and Adam will tell your mom." Guthrie explained.

"I'd rather ask for forgiveness than ask for permission!" Eddie stated. He reached out and grabbed the rope. With little to no hesitation, Eddie swung out over the water and let go.

"Eddie!" Daniel screamed. Everyone waited for the youngster to surface.

"Eddie Barton, you're gonna break your fool neck!" Daniel yelled. Then he looked back up at Guthrie and yelled. "Don't you dare touch that rope, Guth. I'm not playing. Get Down, now!" Daniel yelled, pointing to the ground beside him for effect.

"Just leave me alone Daniel." Guthrie shouted.

"Guthrie, I mean it. I'll go get Adam right now if you don't come down!" Daniel said.

"Come on McFadden. Let him jump. He's fine. If he were gonna break his neck, he'd have done it climbing up there." Joey laughed.

"Joey, I don't believe you! You shouldn't have let those boys get up there to start with." Daniel scolded. "If you want to get yourself killed, fine, but I would expect you to look out for my little brother. I'd sure as hell look out for yours." Daniel continued, pointing over at Alex.

"Joey let me jump earlier. It's fun Daniel. Nobody's gonna get hurt." Alex replied.

Daniel stared at Joey and Alex. He didn't know what else to say. Obviously, everyone thought he was overreacting. Maybe he was, but he'd learned some hard lessons in the last year.

Lessons that had grown him up a lot. He wasn't about to let Guthrie make a bad decision that could hurt him. But as he looked up at his little brother, he could see the desperation and fear in the boys' eyes.

Daniel figured that the kid was likely more afraid of what the other guys would think of him, rather than being afraid of getting hurt. He searched his brain trying to come up with a way to convince Guthrie not to jump, in spite of what the other boys' were going to think of him...or say about him.

"Alright Guthrie. Wait right there. I'm comin' up with you." Daniel said, shucking off his boots and t shirt. He swam over to the bank and climbed up the oak tree.

When he reached Guthrie, he could see that the boy was furious.

"Leave me alone Daniel! Why are you even here?" Daniel shouted.

"You're late. Adam got a little worried...and a lot pissed." Daniel said with a soft smile.

"I wish everybody would just leave me alone! I'm not a little kid anymore, Daniel. Adam can't tell me what to do all the time. It's not fair. I never get to do what I want!" Guthrie shouted.

"I know. He just worries. It may seem like it's just you, but he does it to all of us." Daniel tried to explain.

"Maybe Adam tells everybody else what to do, but all of you tells me what to do." Guthrie said in frustration. "And I'm not gonna let you make me look like a punk in front of my friends. You are not the boss of me."

Daniel studied his little brother for a moment. He realized talking to him wasn't gonna do any good right now. Too, he understood what Guthrie was saying.

"So, we gotta jump outta this tree to save face, huh?" Daniel said.

"You don't have to do anything. I want to jump and I'm gonna jump." Guthrie stated emphatically.

"Yeah, I do have to jump too. If I don't what's Joey gonna tell everybody about me?" Daniel asked, changing tactics.

"I don't know. Probably that you were scared to jump." Guthrie answered.

"Yeah, probably so. He'll probably say a lot more than that." Daniel replied.

"But you don't care what Joey says. You can beat the crap out of him and he knows it! Everybody down there knows it." Guthrie said.  
That was just the idol worship Daniel was hoping to tap into.

"Maybe, maybe not. But I gotta do it Guth. Just like you have to do it to prove to your friends your not a wuss." Daniel said.

"I don't have to prove anything, either. I said I wanna jump. There's a difference." Guthrie replied grouchily. He reluctantly began to realize that Daniel was right. He really didn't want to jump and he really did care about what his friends thought of him.

"Well, what are you gonna do about Adam? He's not gonna like this one bit and he's the one that can ground you." Daniel replied matter of factly.

"You're not gonna tell him, are you?" Guthrie asked in surprise. Daniel wasn't a snitch.

"I guess I have to. Just like you had to tell on Evan this morning." Daniel answered. That ought to do it. Daniel thought to himself.

"Fine. What do you want? I'll do your chores for a week if you want. Just let me jump and don't say a word to Adam...or anybody else in the family. Deal?" Guthrie asked hopefully.

"Nope." Daniel replied.

"Then what?" Guthrie asked.

"I'm not making you any deals. But I do want you to let me jump first." Daniel said.

"Huh? Why? You don't even want to jump." Guthrie didn't know quite what to think now.

"Well, if I jump and don't get hurt. I'll be less afraid of you gettin' hurt. I guess I just wanna convince myself that it ain't too dangerous." Daniel replied as he reached out for the rope.

Guthrie studied his brother in disbelief. In that moment, Guthrie realized just how scared he was to jump. But he realized that he was even more afraid for Daniel to jump.

"Man, this is pretty high up. What would you say? Fifteen feet maybe?" Daniel whistled. "That ought to make a splash." He said, looking back at his little brother. Daniel was praying that Guthrie was 'getting it'.

"Daniel, don't do it. I don't want you to get hurt because of me." Guthrie begged.

"I probably won't get hurt. Whew, but if I happen to hit my head on the bottom, I hope I hit it hard enough to die instantly!" Daniel scoffed.

"Daniel! Don't say that! You don't wanna die!" Guthrie practically screamed.

"Listen Guthrie. I'm the one that's had brain damage, remember? I'm just sayin' it's not somethin' I want to live through again." Daniel said. He casually mussed the hair on top of Guthrie's head. "But here goes nothin'!" He said as he turned back toward the water.

"Daniel wait! Don't do it." Guthrie said, grabbing Daniel by the waist and gently tugging him back from the rope.

Relief washed through Daniel, but he was careful not to let his face show that to Guthrie right now.

"I won't jump if you won't." Daniel said, turning around to hug his little brother.

"I hate you Daniel! This is not fair. Now I have climb down like a little punk in front of my friends." Guthrie grumbled.

"Well, at least we'll be climbing down together. I got friends down there too, you know?" Daniel said, pointing at Joey and the two other older boys that were staring up at them.

Daniel pulled back from Guthrie and saw his eyes welling with tears. "Hey, it's alright. If you really think you have to jump off that stupid rope to save face, then we'll jump together."

"You would do that for me?" Guthrie said, wiping his eyes and staring at Daniel.

"Hey, I'd die for you. I thought I proved that to you last year, but if you need me to prove it to you again, then let's jump." Daniel replied.

Guthrie suddenly felt a million emotions at the same time. He was confused, angry, sad, but mostly he was ashamed of himself.

Daniel had risked his life to save him before and here he was, about to do it again and all Guthrie could think about was what his friends thought of him. He couldn't help it though.

Years and years of being picked on both at school and at home were welled up inside of him. He needed to talk to somebody but he didn't know how. His brothers were always so busy, they barely had time to speak to him, let alone listen to his 'silly problems.'

But he knew he couldn't let Daniel jump. He could get hurt and nothing was worse than seeing anyone in his family hurt again.

"Let's climb down, Daniel." Guthrie said, defeat clear in his voice.

"Yeah, you sure?" Daniel asked.

"I'm sure. But, could we talk on the way home?" Guthrie asked.

"I was hoping you would ask. You can talk to me anytime, buddy." Daniel answered, giving Guthrie a tap on his shoulder. "Okay, let's get out of this tree."

"Sorry guys, the show is over. The McFadden boys are going home in one peice. But if any of ya want your tail kicked, Guth and me will be more than happy to oblige!" Daniel announced, looking back at Guthrie and giggling. Thank God the kid didn't call me on my bluff! Daniel thought to himself.

Guthrie couldn't help but smile. Daniel's smile had always been infectious.

"Yeah, that's right!" Guthrie shouted down at the boys.

The boys climbed down in silence. After swimming across the creek, Guthrie noticed how non chalantly Daniel carried himself as he walked up the the group of boys. He could tell Daniel didn't give a darned what any of them thought. Guthrie wished he felt the same way.

Daniel had pleaded with Eddie to come with them, but he had refused. "Do you realize what your mother will do to me if you get hurt?" Daniel reasoned.

"I won't get hurt and if I do, it's my own fault." Eddie replied.

Daniel looked over at Joey, exasperated. "Look after the kid, will ya? And for God's sake, don't teach them any more stupid tricks...and no diving! Do you hear me Eddie?" Daniel said, exasperated.

"I won't dive. Honest." Eddie promised.

"I've got this McFadden. They'll be fine. You really need to lighten up. You used to be fun. You were the biggest daredevil of us all. What happened to you, man?" Joey asked.

"I grew up." Daniel replied simply.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Let's go grab your fishin' gear and we can talk on the way." Daniel offered.

Guthrie wasn't sure what he wanted to say. "Uh, don't worry about it Daniel. We gotta get back before Adam comes lookin' anyways." He managed to stammer out.

"Adam and Brian are mending some fences. They won't be home for a while yet. We got time to talk. So come on, talk to me. What's eating you?" Daniel asked.

Guthrie looked up hopelessly at Daniel and said "You wouldn't understand. Nobody understands." Guthrie said.

"Well, try me. I understand more than you think." Daniel replied.

"Daniel, I'm just sick of everybody picking on me. At school they call me a goodie goodie and after today they're gonna be calling me a scardie cat too." Guthrie complained.

"Then, at home," He continued, "I'm the bottom guy on the totem pole. All you guys do is boss me around. Nobody listens to me. I can't take it anymore. I get so mad I just want to hit something or somebody!"

Guthrie was practically livid now. His breaths were coming hard and fast. Daniel really felt bad for the kid. He thought carefully about what to say.

"Hey, calm down. It's okay, just take some deep breaths." Daniel said.

Guthrie stopped walking and took a few deep breaths. He was trying hard to hold back the tears he could feel welling up in his eyes. He hated for any of his brothers to see him cry like a baby.

"You better now?" Daniel asked, putting his hand on Guthrie's shoulder. The boy didn't speak, but he nodded to indicate that he was better.

"Believe it or not, I _do_ understand." Daniel began. "Guth, when mom and dad died, I was so hurt and confused.I even blamed myself for their deaths. I couldn't talk to anybody. I just kept it all bottled up. I did that for a long time. You don't remember, because you were so young. I was the smallest kid in my grade at school. Everybody teased me about everything from my size to being an orphan." Daniel said, thinking back.

"Really?" What'd you do?" Guthrie asked in surprise.

"I _hit_ everything and everybody." Daniel replied, smiling. "But, it didn't make me feel better. Well, maybe it did for a few minutes, but after a while, it just made me feel _worse._ All I managed to do was get into trouble."

"But you aren't like that now." Guthrie said, staring at his big brother.

"No, I finally _talked_ to somebody, and eventually everything got a little easier." Daniel explained. "And _then_ I became a teenager...and all hell broke loose again." He said with a smile.

"Why?" Guthrie asked.

"_Because_ I was a teenager. Guthrie, what you're going through is normal. Adolescence is a bitch!" Daniel swore.

"It's not just that, Daniel. You can't know how it feels to be the last to get everything. The last to _do _everything. Anything that happens to me is old news because it's already happened _six times_ before. No matter what idea I come up with, somebody's already been there and done that. It sucks!" Guthrie complained.

"Well, you got a point there. I guess I never thought about it like that." Daniel replied. "I'm sorry we make you feel that way. Why haven't you tried talking to any of us about this before?"

"Cause nobody will listen. Nobody takes me seriously. I'm just a little kid as far as anybody else is concerned." Guthrie explained.

Daniel couldn't help but notice how defeated his kid brother sounded. It touched his heart. He had to do something to help him, he just wasn't sure what to do. But he knew the kid had total faith in him and he had to help him, or risk losing that faith.

"Let me think on it a little while. I just want you to promise me that you won't do anything dangerous just because somebody else does. You've heard the old 'jumping off a bridge' addege, haven't you?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, about a million times from Adam." Guthrie replied with a groan.

"Or in _this _case, a rope." Daniel said with a giggle.

"I promise." Guthrie replied with a sigh.

"We'll sort it out, I promise okay?" Daniel said.

"Okay, thanks Daniel." Guthrie said, picking up his fishing gear.

They walked a little ways up the path and Guthrie suddenly said, "Hey, you're not gonna tell Adam about the rope, are you?"

"Nope," Daniel answered matter of factly. "You are."

"Daniel please! I'm gonna get grounded for two weeks as it is, just for being late. If Adam finds out about the rope, I'll be grounded for life!" He exclaimed.

"Look, you didn't jump and nobody got hurt." Daniel offered.

"He's still gonna freak." Guthrie said.

"Maybe, maybe not, but you're telling him the truth. You know as good as I do that no good can come of lying to him." Daniel said. He was feeling bad for his little brother. He knew it was very likely that Adam would react badly at first, then ask for forgiveness later. He was tempted to cover for the kid again, but thought better of it.

"I'm sorry Guthrie. I'm really, really sorry. I don't want you to get in trouble, but you have to learn to face the music. Daniel explained. He could see that the boy was not too happy with him.

"Whatever." Guthrie replied. He couldn't believe that Daniel had turned on him. He was so sure that he would cover for him with Adam. He would expect this from Crane. After this morning he might expect it from Evan and Ford, but not Daniel or Brian. They had always covered for him in the past.

Whatever.

Daniel thought to himself. _How many times have I answered an older brother like that?_ He figured it was probably in the thousands. He hated to let Guthrie down, but he knew in his heart that covering for him with Adam would just perpetuate the cycle. Nope, it was better for the kid to learn to stand up and face his problems head on.

7bf7b

Guthrie had gone straight to the barn to find Crane and Ford. He quietly walked up to Crane and asked for his assignment.

"Well, I see our stray has returned to us." Crane said, looking down at a less than gleeful Guthrie.

"I'm supposed to see you about my chores." Guthrie replied dully.

"Uh huh. The thing is, Ford and me are just about done here. I guess you're off the hook until Adam gets home. Unless you'd like to start feeding up. It might look good to Adam if you're doing something constructive with your time when he and Brian gets back." Crane said.

"Yeah. I'll feed up." Guthrie replied glumly.

"Guthrie, he doesn't want to punish you, you know. You've just been messing up lately. He's only doing it for your own good." Crane explained.

"Yeah, whatever. I gotta pay the consequences for my choices. I can hear it now." Guthrie replied.

"Sounds about right. I guess you have been listening. I just wish you'd choose to take his advice." Crane said with a smile.

"Maybe, but what fun would that be?" Guthrie said, suddenly feeling proud of his witty comeback.

"I think you've been paying too much attention to Brian and Daniel for your own good." Crane said, smiling as he thought about how much Guthrie sounded like his two hard headed brothers. He sure hoped the boy would come through this new stage unscathed.

7bf7b

"So what do you think's gotten into that boy, Bri?" Adam asked. They'd spent the marjority of the ride back to the ranch discussing Guthrie and his recent defiant behavior.

"He's really not acting any different than the other boys did when they were his age." Brian offered.

"Yeah, but I kinda thought we did a better job with Guthrie. I thought we'd weeded out most of our mistakes on the rest of 'em. He's just always been such a good kid.

"He still is a good kid, Adam. He just has to test our authority." Brian explained.

"Maybe. It just seems so out of character. I expected him to be more like Ford. That kid never really tested us. He gave Daniel and Evan all the grief." Adam said.

"I know. Those three are so close in age. Ford's more of a pleaser, I think. He wanted didn't like us finding fault with him, so he took everything out on them because he could get away with it." Brian said.

"Well, Guthrie seems to want to take things out on all of us... and it seems like he's going out of his way to get into trouble." Adam said.

"I guess we aren't giving him enough attention, Adam. I mean, isn't that why kids act out? He is the youngest and we've all been pretty busy lately. Maybe he just feels left out." Brian offered.

"Maybe, but I don't have time for this attitude of his. If he wants attention, I'll give him attention." Adam said angrily.

"There you go. Jumping off the handle. Where has that ever gotten you, huh?" Brian said with a grin.

"I know, I know. Sometimes I wonder why Hannah and me even think about having kids of our own." Adam observed.

"Cause you're a glutten for punishment." Brian said, digging his spurs into the side of his horse, speeding into a gallop. The ranch house was in sight of them now. Brian was tired of talking and ready to get home, wash up and have some supper. He was going to do his best to stay out of this Guthrie/Adam showdown if it were possible.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

Daniel stepped into the kitchen, hoping to catch Hannah alone for a few minutes. He had been thinking about what Guthrie had said earlier and it was gnawing at him. He could remember when he was a little boy, how good it felt to be able to talk to his mother when he had a problem. That was a luxury Guthrie had never had until Hannah joined the family.

There was just something soothing about talking to Hannah that Daniel realized felt a lot like talking to his own mother all those years ago. He had been relieved to see Guthrie form a close bond with his brother's wife, almost from the very beginning.

He figured that it had been something Guthrie needed that none of his brothers could supply. Daniel had even voiced this to Crane once or twice, but he had never said anything to Hannah or the rest of the family. Crane understood and had said he felt the same way. Daniel had never felt a need to discuss it with anybody else until now.

"Hey Hannah." Daniel said, nervously walking into the kitchen. He was unsure of what he was going to say, but he needed to discuss Guthrie with her, sooner rather than later.

"Hey Daniel." Hannah replied with a smile. She blushed when the boy walked over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

This had become a normal thing for him to do, Hannah realized. It was rare that any of the other McFadden boys showed her such personal affection, with the exception of Adam. But it was a normal thing for Daniel to do.

Hannah had surmised early on that he and Crane were more gentle; more soulful, than the others. For this reason Daniel had managed to become very dear to her. While Crane always seemed to instinctively know when something was bothering her, Daniel did too and he usually went out of his way to reassure her that things would be alright when she was worried. Adam had given her lots of reasons to worry as he often put himself and his brothers into dangerous situations, without stopping to recognize how it frightened her. She could always count on Daniel or Crane to try to ease her fears with a kind word or, more so in Daniel's case, a supportive hug or peck on the cheek.

She had recognized a similar trait in Guthrie, though she admittedly figured it was more likely his age rather than his character. He was a lot more like Adam and Brian than was good for him. The boy brought her a lot of joy, but at the same time scared her to death.

Guthrie was more like her son than a brother. She felt that she was more invested in his life, whether it was giving him advice, helping him with homework or patching up his physical... and emotional wounds.

"You got a minute to talk about Guthrie?" He asked politely, quickly washing his hands and picking up a pairing knife to join her in peeling the potatoes that were currently warranting her attention.

"He's alright, isn't he?" She said, suddenly seeming alarmed.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's in the barn with Crane and Ford." Daniel explained.

"Whew. Don't scare me like that Daniel." She said. "So, where did you find him?" she continued to ask.

"He and Eddie were down at the swimming hole with some other friends." Daniel explained.

"Okay. So what's on your mind?" She asked, looking worriedly at her brother in law.

"Well. He's pretty upset with all of us. He's feeling pretty put out. I guess, we're pushing him around too much for his liking." Daniel explained.

"How many times have I tried to tell y'all that?" Hannah asked with a laugh.

"I know, I know... and I get it, but... he's just a kid. All we want is for him to have a real childhood. We don't want him to have to worry about whether the bills are gonna get paid, you know?" Daniel said.

Hannah nodded her head in understanding. "I realize that, but Guthrie doesn't. He feels like he's not included. Like, he's not one of the guys." She explained.

"But Hannah, it's always been us against the world. Adam and Brian did the best they could for us, but when Mom and Dad died they were just kids too when you think about it. They made mistakes, I guess. They really didn't hide our problems from us because they didn't know any better. They were doing all they could to keep us together and keep the ranch afloat."

"Okay. That makes sense, but as far as Guthrie is concerned, I'm not sure I follow you." Hannah said.

"Well, there were a lot of nights when I was Guthrie's age, or maybe even younger... that I put my head to the pillow, worrying about things like whether or not we were gonna lose our ranch next month... or next week. And if we did lose it, where were we going to go? How would we live? What would we eat? We had some hard times then, compared to now. It was a big burden to shoulder for a bunch of kids. I think we all bear some scars from it."

"Adam's never really shared any of that with me." Hannah said thoughtfully.

"Knowing Adam, he's probably never had enough time to think it through. He's in charge of all of this and it's a big responsibility. I'm betting he's never slowed down long enough to consider the consequences of how we were brought up." Daniel explained.

"Oh he thinks about it, trust me. But he may not realize how it's affected each of you. But Daniel, I know he has always tried to do the very best by all of you." Hannah explained.

"Oh, I know that and that's not my point." He replied nervously.

Okay, so what is your point? I'm not sure I'm following you." Hannah said, clearly concerned.

"Well, you see, It's just seems to me... to all of us I guess-that we should shield Guthrie from that kind of burden."

"Oh, I see. That makes sense." Hannah said.

"We've all worked hard to get the ranch to where it is now, but as far as Guthrie goes, we've tried not to let him in on all of our troubles. I guess without even discussing it we all made up our minds that we were gonna give him a chance to really be a kid." Daniel exhaled. He studied his sister in law, hoping that she really understood him.

"So you guys just want him to enjoy his childhood." She said, smiling softly. Then added, "but all he's getting out of it is that he isn't needed." Hannah replied.

"Right. All this time, we've been trying to do right by him and he's been taking it to mean that we don't need him. That he doesn't matter." Daniel said, his head dropping to stare at the floor.

"So, why are sharing this with me? Why don't you share it with Guthrie." Hannah asked, reaching out and pulling Daniel's chin up so that his eyes met hers.

"Well, I tried to earlier. I just couldn't find the words at the time. But, I'm thinking you could do a better job of it... sort of fix what we screwed up? I can remember when I was little, our Momma used to fix everything. If we broke something, she could fix it. If we broke ourselves... she could fix _us_. You know?" Daniel said, with a nervous laugh Hannah recognized all too well.

"So you're asking for a mother's touch?" Hannah smiled.

"Well, you're so good with him... he seems to respond to you. I think he's needed you for a long time. So, I was hoping you could help him understand where we're coming from. Give him a fresh perspective, I guess." Daniel explained with a shy half grin.

"I'll think on it. Maybe I can talk to Guthrie... and Adam, too." She added.

"Hannah? Make sure that if you talk to Adam, he knows that we appreciate everything he's done for us. I mean, it's not his fault. We all know that he and Brian did the best they could." Daniel said nervously.

"Of course I will, Daniel." Hannah replied. It was her turn to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry." She added. "Everything will work out fine." She said. "You really are a good brother, you know that?"

"Nah, I'm just the middle brother. I'm sitting on the fence of the generation gap and can see on both sides." He explained, laughing as he walked out of the kitchen.

As Hannah watched him leave, she realized that somehow, Daniel had been born into the family in the right order. It had to be divine intervention she thought quietly, that had intentionally placed him squarely in the middle of this brood.

She found herself praying that the same divine intervention had somehow led her to this family. She hadn't chosen to be a mother to any of these boys, or to be the only woman in this house, so she was hoping now that the Man upstairs knew what he was doing when he had put her here.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Supper was uneventful, for the most part. Daniel had left early for his gig at the Timber Tavern, but everyone else was present. Guthrie was once again, quieter than usual. Crane, seated next to Evan, wasn't at all surprised to note the tension between his hot-headed younger brother and his baby brother. He doubted it was a surprise to anyone.

Adam had decided to put off any talk with Guthrie until after supper. That decision had obviously affected everyone's meal as Adam could tell that all of his brothers were tense. He should have dealt with it before the meal, but he hadn't had the strength. Hannah sat stoically at the head of the table. She was intently watching the youngest in their midst. Adam noted how motherly she was toward his baby brother. She was undoubtedly concerned about whether or not the boy was eating enough. It was just like her to worry about the little things. Adam wasn't much for sweating the small stuff. He didn't have the luxury of that kind of time, what with six younger brothers who were almost constantly getting into mischief.

After leaving the table, the guys all scattered to the winds. Adam knew it was time to talk with Guthrie. He figured the rest of the family sensed it and didn't want to be a witness to it. Adam knew they were all protective of their youngest and with the exception of a disgruntled Evan, no one was eager to see the wrath come down.

"Guthrie, I need to talk to you in the living room." Adam had announced as his baby brother helped Hannah clear the table.

"Alright." Guthrie answered reluctantly. He glanced quickly at a knowing, yet sympathetic Hannah. She smiled sweetly as she mussed Guthrie's hair. Her feeble attempt, Adam supposed, at showing the kid her support.

"So, you were late today. Would you mind telling me why?" Adam asked, easing himself onto the nearest couch and indicating to Guthrie to take a seat next to him.

Guthrie eased himself onto the couch and turned to face his executioner.

"I just wasn't ready to come home yet." Guthrie said, matter of factly.

Adam couldn't help but be surprised. He was expecting a lame excuse, rather than a straightforward answer. He couldn't help but notice that Guthrie seemed defiant, rather than uncomfortable.

"Excuse me?" Adam asked when he finally found his voice.

"I wasn't ready to come home." Guthrie repeated his previous answer.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you said. So, you think suddenly it's okay to just go off and do whatever you want, whenever you want? I would think that you know better than that by now, Guthrie. We have rules around here and I expect you to abide by them. Now, when I tell you to be home at a certain time, I expect you to be here at that time. Do you understand me?" Adam asked, still taken aback.

"I know. But you're not my father, Adam. You're just my big brother. I have six big brothers. I shouldn't have to mind everybody all of the time. I'm not a kid anymore and I don't want to be treated like one." Guthrie explained.

Adam couldn't hide the shock he felt. He knew it was written all over his face. It was far from the first time one of his brothers' had pulled the you're not my father card on him. But as far as Guthrie was concerned, he pretty much was his father. He was the only one of the boys to have absolutely no memory of their parents. He had always looked up to Adam and Brian, and more recently, Hannah, as his parents. He had a full understanding of Adam's guardianship of him. So, to Adam, this defiance was coming completely out of left field.

"Guthrie, I don't believe what I'm hearing! You are way out of line here. You know darned good and well that you do have to mind me. You may not be a little kid, but you are far from grown. What's gotten into you?" Adam asked, exasperated.

"I just want to be treated with some respect, Adam. I'm tired of being pushed around by everybody. It's not fair." Guthrie said, clearly getting emotional. His hands had balled into fists and he was beginning to breathe hard. His eyes were glistening with unshed tears. Guthrie struggled to keep himself in control of his emotions, but he was failing miserably._ Don't let him see you cry. His inner voice was saying, over and over._

"Now look here, mister. You have to earn respect and right now, you're closer to earning a trip to the woodshed." Adam replied.

This would be a first. Adam searched his brain and couldn't remember a time that he had ever had to use corporal punishment on his baby brother. Daniel and Evan? Sure, many times. Brian had even spanked Ford once, but Guthrie had never had a whipping. He had never actually needed one. Up until today, he had been mostly compliant with the rules and when he did mess up, a scolding had always brought him back inline.

"Adam, how would you like it if you were me? Number seven, not number one? You don't have to answer to _anybody_. I have to answer to _everybody_. How would you like it?" Guthrie asked.

Adam had to stop and think for a minute. He honestly didn't have an answer for the boy. He had never thought about it, really. He could remember minding his parents, but admittedly, that was a long time ago. So the kid was sick of the rules...thought he had the right to make his own decisions. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen. Adam searched his brain for the right thing to say.

"No, Guthrie. I don't know what it's like. I guess you're trying to tell me that it stinks. I can see where you would feel that way. But come on, you know good and well that I have to set boundaries... and you have to live within those boundaries- at least until you're eighteen."

"I know, but I should count for something in this family." Guthrie said, suddenly resigned to his fate.

"Now wait a minute. You count just as much as the rest of us. Why would you think something like that?" Adam asked in astonishment.

_Because that's how you all treat me! _The voice inside Guthrie's head was screaming. He just couldn't say it. He was tired of trying to make his brothers understand. Especially Adam. He was ready to just end this conversation and take his punishment.  
"I don't know. It doesn't matter, just go ahead and give me my punishment. I'm ready to get this over with." Guthrie said with an air of defiance that was unmistakable.

"You wanna check that attitude for me? As far as me punishing you, you did this to yourself and you can't say I didn't warn you." Adam said, clearly irritated. "But first, would you care to tell me where you were this afternoon?" Adam went on to ask.

"No." Guthrie replied.

"No?" Adam repeated. "Guthrie, I asked you where you were and I expect you to tell me."

"Ask Daniel, he can tell you." Guthrie said, the defiance returning to his voice.

"If I wanted Daniel to tell me, I'd ask him. I'm asking you!" Adam yelled, jumping up from the couch and grabbing a slightly wincing Guthrie by the collar and dragging him to his feet.

"Adam!" Hannah shouted, walking into the living room. She managed with that one word to plead with Adam to get hold of himself.

Adam slowly released the boy and Guthrie backed up a few steps, but never broke his gaze with his eldest brother. He was ready for whatever came his way.

"Guthrie, I swear!" Adam began.

"What are you gonna do, send me to my room? I don't have one, remember? Guthrie yelled.

"Guthrie!" Hannah exclaimed. She was caught completely off guard by the boys' comment.

"It's true. I'm not even important enough to have my own room." Guthrie said, tears now flowing down his cheeks.

"Is that what this is all about? You're ticked off because you don't have a room?" Adam replied.  
"No! It's not that... it's... it's just..." Guthrie stammered.

"It's just what?" Adam asked, again raising his voice. "I'm sick of this family!"

"Well we're getting sick of your attitude!" Adam retaliated.

"Adam." Hannah said, she had been standing next to Guthrie, her arm draped across his shoulders. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" She asked as she released her hold on Guthrie and walked over to Adam. Her question was soft and gentle and as Adam looked into her eyes, he knew she was about to get her way.

Adam sunk back down on the couch, acting every bit as defeated as he felt.

"Guthrie, why don't you go lay down in our room. I want to talk to Adam, then I'll be up there in a few minutes, okay?" She asked him, hopeful that he would comply with her request without any argument. The boy shook his head and walked slowly up the stairs.

Hannah watched him leave, then turned to her husband. She felt as though she understood exactly what both of them were feeling. She was praying now that she could get through to her husband. Up until now, she thought he was going to be the challenge. But, at the moment she was more afraid of speaking with Guthrie.

"Adam, I need you to just sit there and listen to me. I think I can clear this up for you, if you'll just hear me out." Hannah said.

She knew that listening quietly was not exactly in her husbands' nature, but if he never listened to her again, she prayed he would listen to her now.

"Okay Hannah, I'm listening." Adam said, sounding every bit as defeated as he felt.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

"Okay Hannah, I'm listening." Adam said, sounding every bit as defeated as he felt.

"I had a chat with Daniel this afternoon after he brought Guthrie home. He seems to think that Guthrie needs some reassurance of his worth in this family." Hannah said, easing herself onto the couch to sit beside her husband. She studied him as she spoke. She could see the worry and frustration in his eyes. She wondered to herself when the last time was that he worried about anything other than his family. She figured it must have been years.

"And?." Adam asked, reaching out to take Hannah by the hand. He was willing and ready for someone to help him with these boys. Whether Hannah knew it or not, she was an answer to his prayers.

"He feels like Guthrie is suffering the consequences of being sheltered by the family." Hannah began.

"Sheltered? I'm not quite getting you, hon." Adam replied.

"Well, I think Guthrie's upbringing was a little easier than the rest of the boys. I mean, you and Brian were thrust into parenting when you were still kids yourselves... and apparently it had a strong impact on all of the boys."

"The rug got pulled out from under all of us, that's true enough. But we handled it." Adam said.

"That's right. You all handled it, collectively. But Guthrie was so young, he doesn't remember any of that. You guys just sort of... reacted to a new normal, so to speak. Adam, from Crane on down to Ford, they remember life with your parents as head of the family and how things changed when you and Brian took over the responsibility. It affected all of you. It has shaped who each of you are and the six of you share something with each other that Guthrie doesn't.

"We have losing our parents in common? You think that has something to do with Guthrie's behavior now?" Adam asked, completely at a loss.

"Not exactly. What you all have in common is protecting an innocent little brother from a cruel world. You can't honestly tell me that you wouldn't go back in time and try to prevent your parent's deaths somehow if you could." Hannah explained.

"Well, sure. That goes without sayin'. I'm pretty sure any of us would." Adam replied, still confused.

"But none of you can. But what you can do is protect Guthrie from feeling that kind of hurt; from feeling the fear and the loss of normalcy. You all had to be scared to death, so it seems logical to me that you would want a different life for him. You want to let him experience a childhood free from worrying about what life is gonna do to you next."

"Okay, so I guess we are guilty of sheltering him, but what's so wrong with that?" Adam asked.

"Nothing, Adam. Absolutely nothing. It's honorable of you all, but Guthrie doesn't understand what this is. All he can see is that you guys go out there everyday and do what it takes to keep this ranch afloat while you tell him to go off and play. It's like the six of you are in this fraternity that's staring him in the face and he wants in; but the exclusive members keep turning him away. It makes him feel unwanted. Do you see?"

"I guess it makes some sense. But I don't get why it's coming up now, Hannah." Adam said in exasperation.

Hannah reached over and ran her hand gently down the side of Adam's face.

"It's his age, honey. It's part of growing up. He feels like he's old enough to 'join the club'. I guess in his mind he figured that when he became a teenager, you guys would stop looking at him as a child and include him more." She said.

"Well, I'm not about to start treating him like an adult. Childhood is an important part of life and I'm not going to screw that up for him- and I'm not going to let him screw it up, either. Hannah, I _know_ I made mistakes with those boys. I _know_ they didn't have an ideal childhood and that hurts me... because I did. My childhood was pretty great." Adam explained.

"Yes, but it was cut short too. You were a happy kid one day and a grown man the next... literally, and so was Brian."

"I guess, but I still wish I could have done better by them... and I aim to do better by Guthrie. We have to make him understand that." Adam said.

"We will. Let me talk to him."Hannah said sweetly. "He's a good boy Adam. He worships the ground you walk on and he loves all of you so much."

"Yeah, well I'm sure he's not willing to listen to any of _us_ right now. It would probably be better coming from you, but Hannah?"

"Yes?" Hannah replied.

"Do _not _let him be disrespectful to you. You heard him in here earlier. You don't deserve to be treated that way and I am _not_ going to put up with that kind of attitude from him, I don't care how mad he is." Adam stated adamantly.

"I won't. I promise." Hannah replied softly. "By the way, you may want to show Daniel a little appreciation. We had a good talk today and he's really turning into a fine young man."

"I realize that, Hannah." Adam replied, looking somewhat puzzled at her comment.

"I know you do, but it never hurts for you to tell him from time to time... and maybe remind Brian of how much you appreciate him for all he has done to help you." She added.

"Yes mother." Adam answered sarcastically.

"Adam. I know it's the way you feel in your heart. But considering where we are with Guthrie now, I'm just thinking that a few positive words from you every now and then may go a long way with the guys." She explained.

"I know. And as usual you are right. And... I love you Hannah." Adam said, tenderly rubbing her arms. He silently thanked God again for bringing her to him.

"I love you too, Adam... and I love your brothers." Hannah said as she laid her head on his chest.

7bf7b

Upstairs, Guthrie bawled like a baby. It was good to have a little privacy, but he couldn't figure out how things had gotten so twisted. Somehow, his standing up to Adam had only resulted in Adam thinking he was mad because he didn't have a room of his own.

That was the farthest thing from the truth. Bunking in the living room with Brian was one thing Guthrie did like about his life. At least it gave him access to all of his family when anything exciting was going on.

He enjoyed lying in bed at night, listening to the adventures Brian shared with him. If he wasn't telling him a tall tale about his escapades of a recent night on the town, he was telling him old stories about a mom and dad that he couldn't remember. He didn't really fret over losing his parents as a baby, but still, his brothers had never let him forget where he came from.

He liked living with his brothers. It was all he had ever known. He was unsure at first about having a woman around when Hannah joined the family, but now she was just an awesome big sister to him. He loved her as much as he loved his brothers.

Guthrie was just fed up with being excluded with all the important stuff. He knew the family was struggling to keep the ranch going, but no one ever asked him for his help. It was, 'go run and play Guthrie', or 'do your schoolwork and leave the rest to us'. Nobody ever listened to him. He wanted to feel like they needed him, the way he needed _them_.

Why did they think he was so useless? When something went wrong with their finances, Adam turned to Crane. If something happened with the livestock, Adam turned to Brian or Evan. If something went wrong with the tractor or the harrow, or the pickup or jeep, Adam turned to Daniel. Lately, he had noticed that even Ford had become an important part of the day to day running of the ranch. Adam treated him like the older ones too. But Guthrie was overlooked entirely, unless it was to do something unimportant like the dishes or some other boring, mundane task that the others just didn't want to do.

He had once considered running away. He didn't figure they would even miss him, but he knew how terribly he would miss them. Besides, he figured running away was childish and he wanted to show them that he was grown up now.

Guthrie kept thinking back to what happened at the swimming hole earlier. For a few minutes, he felt included in something. Joey had thought he was big enough to swing off of that rope. It may have been a dumb idea, but it made Guthrie feel relevant. Then Daniel came along and scolded him like he was a kid.

He shuddered now when he thought about it. Daniel may as well have grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the tree. He had essentially made him look like a baby in front of their friends.

Okay, so maybe Daniel didn't need to prove himself, but Guthrie sure did. The thought of going to school Monday and facing Eddie, Billy and Alex made him feel sick. They would tell everybody and he would probably have to put up with being made fun of for the rest of the school term. At least summer vacation was just around the corner.

He would be away from everyone at school for a few months. He thought glumly though about how much more time he would be spending at home being kicked around by his big brothers.

Guthries' thoughts kept going in circles from getting picked on by his friends to being kicked around by his family. The more he mulled things over, the more angry and more defiant he became.

He knew that Adam wasn't done with him yet. Hannah had stepped in and put things off for a while, but he knew Adam was eventually going to come upstairs.

Too, he remembered that Daniel had insisted that he tell Adam about the rope. Guthrie couldn't see now why that was so important. He didn't feel the need to share anything about that with Adam.

He was becoming more and more angry with Daniel for butting into his life therefore, he was in no mood to do what he was told now. It would serve no purpose other than to make Adam come down on him even harder. Adam had been so overprotective lately that Guthrie knew hearing about the incident with the rope was going to cause him to go off on another rant.

_I don't have to say anything about that. The only thing I did wrong is not come home on time. I'm being punished for that, but there's no way I'm taking punishment for something I didn't even do._ The longer he thought on it, the more defiant he became and the more his resentment towards his brothers grew.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

Hannah had started upstairs to talk to Guthrie, when the phone rang. She motioned to Adam to sit tight when she noticed him about to get up to answer it.

"I've got it." She said, walking over to the desk. "Hello?"

Adam watched his wife, curious as to who was calling.

"Hey Sophie. What?" Adam heard Hannah ask, her voice full of alarm. "What happened?"

"Do you need me to come sit with you? Are you sure?" Hannah said, frowning.

She glanced at Adam who was giving her a concerned look. She put up her hand to indicate that she was alright.

"Oh, well he's not here at the moment, but I'll tell him when he comes home. Yes, Guthrie is fine. Will you call me tomorrow and let me know how he's doing? Sure. You just call me and let me know and I'll tell Guthrie. Okay Sophie, take care and tell Eddie that we are thinking of him. Okay girl, I will talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"What was that about?" Adam asked. He had risen from the couch and walked over to stand beside Hannah.

"That was Sophie. She's at the hospital. Eddie's in surgery." She answered quietly.

"What's wrong with him?" Adam asked, alarmed.

"He broke his leg this afternoon. The orthapedic surgeon has to go in and put a steel rod and some pins in it. Sophie said she's just grateful that he didn't get hurt worse than he did." Hannah said.

"How did it happen?" Adam asked her.

"Apparently he was at the swimming hole down by Smithie's fork and swung off of a rope and landed in shallow water.

"What rope? There's never been a rope over that hole. Are you sure that's what she said?" Adam asked, clearly confused.

"Oh yes, I'm sure... and that's not all she said." Hannah said with a sense of foreboding.

"I have a feeling I don't wanna know, but what else did she say?" Adam asked, remembering that Guthrie had been with Eddie today.

"She wanted me to thank Daniel for trying to tell Eddie not to be swinging off of the rope. Apparently Eddie told her that Daniel caught him and Guthrie at the swimming hole earlier and stopped them just before they jumped off of it." Hannah explained.

"Do what? How come I haven't heard about any of this?" Adam asked angrily.

"Adam, calm down-" Hannah began.

"No! Do you see why I have to keep on top of these boys? Doggone it, I knew that boy was trying to hide something from me!" Adam yelled.

Brian and Crane walked in the front door just as Adam began his rant.

"What's going on?" Crane asked.

"I'm gonna kill Guthrie and then I'm gonna kill Daniel!" Adam replied, coming unglued.

"Hey, hey, calm down partner. You're not gonna kill anybody on my watch." Brian piped up. "Hannah, what's going on here?" He asked her as he eased over to put a firm hand on Adam's shoulder.

Hannah repeated what Sophie had told her on the phone.

"Now hold on Adam. Don't you think you should give 'em a chance to explain things before you fly off the handle?" Crane asked. "I mean, Daniel had already left for his gig before you and Brian got back this evening. He never had a chance to tell you anything."

"He's right Adam." Brian offered.

"Maybe so, but I specifically asked Guthrie where he was today and he refused to tell me. I guess now I know why." Adam grumbled. "You see, Hannah? The second I give these boys a little freedom, they're off trying to break their fool necks!"

"Adam, just calm down. I'm gonna go up and talk to Guthrie now. I'll get to the bottom of it." She said.

"No, you're not. I'm going to talk to him." Adam began.

"No." Hannah argued.

"Excuse me? No?" Adam asked, looking dumbfounded at his wife.

"Don't do it... not like this. Not when you're upset. You need to calm down first." She explained nervously.

"Adam, Hannah's right. If you talk to him now, you're just gonna flip out on the kid and make things worse." Brian said.

Adam let out an agitated sigh and threw his hands up in the air. "I swear Brian. I'm sick and tired of having to babysit these boys, but if I don't, one of them is gonna get killed."

"Wait a minute. Babysit us? You don't have to babysit me! I'm a grown man Adam." Crane replied. He knew Adam well enough to know that when he said 'these boys' to Brian, in Adam's mind, Crane was included in the statement.

"Crane, just drop it. I don't need attitude from you too. You all know exactly what I mean. Look what happened last year." Adam said through gritted teeth.

"Come on Adam. Get a grip. Last year was bad, but none of them meant for that to happen. The cave in was an accident so for God's sake, let it go." Brian groaned.

"Let it go? Let it go?" Adam asked. He was furious now.

"Adam stop it!" Hannah shouted. All the guys hushed. They all knew that when Hannah started yelling, things had been taken too far. It stunned them into silence.

Adam was about to take off upstairs when they heard the familiar sound of their old pickup coming up the drive.

"What's he doing home this early?" Crane asked aloud as he peeked through the curtains and watched Daniel come thru the front gate, immediately sensing that something was off. Not only was he home early, but he actually opened the gate rather than hopping over it as he normally would.

"Good. Maybe now I'll get some answers!" Adam grumbled.

They all stood silent as Daniel walked through the front door. Hannah was the first to speak after taking in the sight of the young man.

"What happened to you?" She asked as she hurried toward Daniel.

"I'm fine, Hannah." Daniel responded as he put down his guitar case. He took one look at his brothers and instinctively knew he had interrupted something intense.

"Daniel, you're bleeding!" Hannah continued, reaching out to run her fingers lightly down the side of Daniel's face where she noticed a trickling of blood.

"I'm alright Hannah." Daniel answered with a reassuring smile.

"Well, what the hell happened to you?" Brian said as he watched Crane walk over to check on their bleeding little brother.

"Aww man. A fight broke out during our first set. I was up there singing one second; next thing I knew I caught a bar stool with my head." Daniel replied, giggling as if it were nothing.

"You see! This right here is exactly why I don't like you playing in those dives!" Adam shouted.

"Hey man, easy. I'm okay. It's no big deal, honest. Somebody called the sheriff and as it turns out, the kids that were fighting were underage. The bartender had served them beer, so Charlie shut the place down." Daniel explained.

"Let me get the first aid kit. That's a pretty nasty cut." Hannah said, turning to head upstairs.

"Hannah, it's just a scratch." Daniel called after her.

It was Crane that first noticed Daniel start to sway. He reached out and caught him just before he went down.

"Daniel!" He called out as he caught him and then eased his little brother to the staircase and sat him down on the second step.

"Either you've had a few yourself or you've got yourself a concussion." Crane observed.

Daniel dropped his head in his hands, hoping the dizziness would pass quickly. He knew what was coming next.

"Oh well, there you go. This is just great!" Adam yelled. "It's bad enough that you cover up for Guthrie today but you run off and get knocked in the head in a bar!" Adam spat out before he could stop himself.

"Huh?" Daniel looked up at Adam, then glanced over at Brian, then Crane and back to Adam.

"What's going on? What are you talking about I covered for Guthrie?" Daniel asked, flabbergasted.

"I'm talking about the swimming hole? Eddie Barton broke his leg out there this afternoon and you knew all this time that he and Guthrie was out there jumping off a damned rope and your dumb ass decided to cover for them!"

"Adam!" Hannah yelled, running back down the stairs. "Stop it!"

"Doggone it Hannah. Stay out of this!" Adam seethed. "They are my brothers and I'm responsible for them!"

"Look, let's just drop it alright? Everybody!" Crane yelled. "Right now, we need to get Daniel to the hospital and get him checked over. We can sort out the rest of this later! Adam... please?" Crane pleaded.

"But- what are saying. Eddie got hurt? Where's Guthrie?" Daniel asked in confusion.

"Never mind, I'm sorry Danny." Adam replied as he walked over to help Crane pull Daniel to his feet. Adam held his hand out indicating to Daniel to hand over the keys to the truck.

"Crane and me will take him over to County." Adam said. "Hannah, you tell Guthrie that he and I are gonna have that talk when I get back."

Hannah didn't respond other than to nod her head. She followed behind them as they walked through the front door. "Adam, please call me after he sees the doctor!" She yelled behind him.

He gave her a quick wave to indicate that he would. She closed the door and turned to acknowledge a brooding Brian. He sighed as he pulled his cowboy hat off and threw it down on the back of the couch. "Never a dull moment around here." He sighed as he plopped on the couch.

"Where are Evan and Ford?" Hannah asked worriedly. Whenever one of them was hurt, her mother instinct always kicked in and she would find herself worrying about all of her boys.

"They're in the barn Hannah. They're brushing down the horses. "Calm down momma, they're fine." Brian said quietly as he rested his head on the back of the couch. He had grown very accustomed to Hannah and her motherly nature.

How had things gotten so messed up so quickly? Hannah had begun to ponder quietly. She looked up and saw the closed door to the bedroom she and Adam shared. Guthrie was still up there, apparently unaware of the events of the last half hour. She was more determined than to talk to him. Sooner rather than later considering Adam's current state of mind.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

Adam drove in silence. He glanced over at Daniel, whose head lay resting on Crane's shoulder. He had complained of a slight headache and some minor dizziness, but other than that he swore he was fine.

As mad as he was, Adam knew the kid didn't need any hassles now. Besides, even if he tried to go into any of it, he knew Crane would stop him.

He couldn't stand feeling so old and so helpless. For God's sakes he was only twenty-nine years old. He had a beautiful wife at home. He and Hannah were married for less than two years. They should still be in the honeymoon stages of their marriage; ought to be discussing things like how many children they would have and what they would name them... or where they would send them to college one day.

Instead, he was trying to eek out a living on a cattle ranch while raising his younger brothers. He didn't have the luxury of taking vacations with Hannah. They had never even gone on a honeymoon. Life just wasn't fair.

Irregardless, this was his life and probably always would be. Adam tried hard to turn off his negative thoughts about the future and just concentrate on the current situation. He had an injured little brother to get to the hospital and another one at home in need of a serious talk. The rest would have to wait. It wasn't going to get him anywhere thinking about a seemingly hopeless future.

"How are you doing, Danny?" He asked quietly.

"I'm okay, Adam. Don't worry so much, please?" Daniel pleaded.

"It's in his nature to worry kiddo." Crane said with a laugh.

"Look who's talking." Daniel replied, nudging Crane in the ribs.

"You took the words right outta my mouth." Adam said, reaching over to muss Daniel's hair and giving Crane an amused look.

7bf7b

Hannah didn't know what to do. She needed to talk to Guthrie, but she was so worried about Daniel she didn't know if she could concentrate on anything else at the moment. She was worried about Eddie too. She had been distracted when Sophie called, she was wishing now that she had asked her friend to call back after the boy was out of surgery. She had said that she would speak to her tomorrow. Hannah hoped that Adam or Crane would check in on Sophie. She and Eddie were all alone in Carbon county. They had no family to speak of and the McFadden's had sort of adopted them into their own family. There was just so much going on at the same time, that Hannah felt overwhelmed. She decided to put off the talk with Guthrie for a little while and try to keep herself busy. She opted to start cooking for Sunday dinner while giving her nerves a chance to settle. An hour or more later, when she found herself staring at the phone once again, as she'd caught herself doing several times already, she decided that she would go up and talk to Guthrie. After all, it could be hours before she heard any word from the hospital.

Guthrie heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He figured it was Adam. He had heard him yelling downstairs earlier. He figured Adam and Hannah had gotten in an argument... likely about him.

It wasn't unusual for the two of them to bicker. It didn't particularly bother Guthrie most of the time, but now he felt pangs of guilt.

Hannah had taken up for him and Adam was probably mad with her. He loved Hannah and hated to think that Adam had yelled at her because of him.

Everything had been quiet for a long while since he had heard the yelling. Guthrie knew thee truck had pulled up, but it left again a few minutes later. He was curious as to what was going on, but he hadn't dared to go downstairs and ask questions. He was afraid of encountering Adam. But now, he was ready for Adam to come upstairs and deal with him. The wait was killing him.

He certainly wasn't expecting to look up and see Hannah walk in the door.

"Hey Guthrie, how are you feeling?" Hannah asked softly.

"I thought you were Adam. I heard him yelling from up here. Is he mad at you?" Guthrie asked her nervously.

"No. He's not mad at me Guth. We're fine. There's just a lot going on tonight." She explained.

"What's going on?" He asked even as he told himself that Hannah probably wouldn't tell him. That was his problem. The family never let him in on anything important.

"Well, Daniel had a little mishap at his show tonight." Hannah said.

"Is he okay? What's wrong with him, Hannah?" Guthrie asked, instantly feeling guilty for the hard feeling's he'd been harboring against Daniel for the last half hour.

"I'm sure he's fine, Guth. He just got a bump on the head. Adam and Crane took him to County a while ago to get checked over. It'll be okay, so just relax. No need in borrowing trouble." She answered sitting down on the bed next to him.  
"Well what happened? Did he get into a fight?" Guthrie asked anxiously.

"More like he got in the way of a fight." Hannah answered with a smile. "But, there is something else I have to tell you Guthrie."

"What?" He asked.

"Well, Eddie Barton is in the hospital. Sophie said he broke his leg this afternoon down at the creek." Hannah explained.

"What?" Guthrie asked in surprise. "How did it happen?" Guthrie asked, already dreading the answer he would get.

"He was swinging off a rope and landed in shallow water. It's a pretty serious fracture. He's having surgery now." She told him. She could see how shook up he was, so she ran her fingers through his hair, hoping to calm him down.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Guthrie asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"He will be fine. But he's gonna be laid up for a while. Sophie's gonna speak with his teachers about sending his assignments home with you for a while. I figured you could ride the bus to his house in the afternoons and bring them to him. That way you two can have some visiting time too. I would imagine he would appreciate some company." Hannah said.

"Sure, I'll do anything for Eddie. He's my best friend." Guthrie said.

"Guthrie, before all of this happened, I was planning on having a talk with you about your behavior of late. I'm thinking maybe we'll have that talk a little later, but I need to know what happened at the creek today." She said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Guthrie asked, unsure of what she was getting at.

"Well, Sophie said that Daniel had stopped you and Eddie from jumping off that rope earlier. Daniel didn't say anything to us about it, so Adam is pretty ticked of with the two of you. He didn't like finding that little piece of information out second-hand." Hannah told him.

"Oh. I asked Daniel not to tell Adam about it. He said he wouldn't, but he told me that I had to tell him about it myself." Guthrie answered.

"I see. But clearly, you didn't. So, why is that?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know. I was mad Hannah. I was mad at Adam for grounding me, I guess... and I was mad at Daniel because he treated me like a little kid in front of the other guys at the swimming hole today." Guthrie said, suddenly sounding younger than thirteen.

"I'm sure Daniel was just trying to keep you from getting hurt." She replied.

"I know. I'm sorry Hannah. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm just tired of being treated like I don't matter." He explained, fighting back the tears.

"I know Guthrie and I understand how you feel, but... it seems like you have a big mess to clean up now. It seems as though Daniel expected you to tell Adam everything that happened today and now he's hurt and on top of that he has to deal with Adam being mad at him." Hannah said.

"But Daniel didn't do anything wrong, Hannah. Adam ought not be mad at him!" Guthrie said, sounding as desperate as he likely felt.

"Yes, but Adam doesn't know that. He thinks that Daniel covered up for you. Poor Daniel's kind of stuck in the middle of it and probably doesn't even realize what's going on." Hannah said.

"I didn't mean to get him in trouble with Adam, honest I didn't." Guthrie said, tears now falling down his cheeks.

Hannah reached over and wiped them away. "I know you didn't Guth. But you chose not to come clean with Adam and now these are the consequences. It seems to me that you're trying to prove to everybody that you're not a child anymore, but... your actions today are just that... childish. What do you think?" Hannah asked him softly.

"I guess so. Hannah, what am I gonna do? What if Daniel's not alright and I don't get a chance to set things right?" Guthrie asked. He was trying so hard to fight back the tears, but they just kept coming. Hannah reached over and drew him into a hug and he broke down completely.

"Shh. Hush now. It's okay." Hannah said, gently rocking Guthrie. "We'll set things right. Adam and Crane are gonna take good care of Daniel. I'm sure Adam won't come down too hard on him now."

"Oh God Hannah. I hope you're right. I'm so sorry about all of this. Honest I am!" Guthrie said, clinging to her with all his might.

Hannah could feel her heart breaking along with his. She loved this boy so much, it hurt her to see him like this. She was beginning to reconsider their whole conversation. Whether he realizes it or not, he's not ready to be treated like his older brothers. He's too sensitive, Hannah thought to herself.

She said a silent prayer that Daniel would be okay and that Adam would hold his temper.

7bf7b

"Everything looks good Mr. McFadden. Your brothers' CT scan is negative. I put a couple of stitches in that cut and he's probably going to have a headache for a few days. I've written him a prescription for some mild pain medication. It should help with the headache. Considering his medical history, I'm sure you are well versed in what to watch for with a mild concussion, but I've printed some instructions off for you to follow. I would recommend that he follows up with his neurologist in a week or so, just to be safe. In the meantime, if he has any more dizziness or severe nausea, don't hesitate to bring him back in for further evaluation." Dr. Beard said.

"Thank you doc." Adam replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

"You are welcome. He should be just fine. I left him in the doting hands of your other brother, Crane is it? I've already given him this news, but he seems a little shaken up, so thought I'd speak to you as well." Dr. Beard explained.

Adam couldn't believe that the County hospital could possibly have a doctor on staff that Adam hadn't previously met, but he had never met Dr. Beard before tonight.

"Yes, Crane... well, he worries... of course, with seven boys in one family, we've had our share of medical scares." Adam said as he shook the doctor's hand.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've been on duty for seven hours and this is the fourth male patient I've had under the age of twenty-one who has been banged up in one way or another. Too many for my liking.

"Yes sir. I bet so, our friend's son broke his leg earlier this evening. You probably had the pleasure of treating him today, too." Adam laughed.

"Yes, I treated a broken leg this afternoon. Seems like it's feast or famine. I worked a twelve-hour shift yesterday and only had a couple of cases of the flu and a baby with croup. I'd have preferred another day like that today." The doctor admitted.

"Well, thank you again doc." Adam reiterated as he saw Crane and Daniel walking towards him.

"You're very welcome, sir. Young man," the doctor said, turning to Daniel. "Stay in the slow lane for a few days... and the next time you see a bar stool... or anything else coming your way...duck!" Dr. Beard said with a grin.

"Yes sir and thank you." Daniel replied with a sheepish grin.

"Well, thank God for small blessings." Adam said with a sigh. "Crane if you'll take him to the truck, I'm gonna make a quick call to the house and then go check on Eddie. I won't be long." Adam said.

"Okay." Crane replied tiredly. "Come on Danny. I'm sure glad you've got a hard head." He teased.

Daniel shot him a look that let Crane know he wasn't amused. It didn't matter to Crane. The kid was okay and that was good enough.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

Hannah rushed down the stairs. She had heard the phone ring and she was anxious to hear word from Daniel. She could see Brian on the phone, so she crept quietly over to him, hoping for good news.

"Everything's okay Hannah. Brian said, hanging up the phone. "They'll be home in a little while. Everything checked out okay with Daniel. Just a mild concussion and a couple stitches. Adam's gonna check on Eddie before they leave."

"Thank goodness. Wow, that was fast. I was afraid they would be sitting in the emergency room all night." Hannah said letting out a deep sigh. "Brian, I will be glad when this day is over." She said with a nervous laugh.

"What? It's just a normal day at the Circle Bar 7, isn't it?" He replied with a laugh.

"Not funny." She replied, slapping him playfully on the shoulder.

"How's the fugitive?" He asked.

"Oh he's a little shook up... and a lot sorry." Hannah replied.

"Oh well, if he thinks he's sorry now, just wait til Adam gets hold of him. I'm kind of surprised at Daniel for covering for him." Brian said.

"He didn't. He left it up to Guthrie to tell Adam himself." Hannah explained.

"Ahh, that makes more sense. Well, that's not gonna help the kids case any. If he wants us to see him as anything more than a little boy, he's gonna have to stop acting like one." Brian observed.

"I think he's come to that conclusion on his own Brian. I'm pretty sure this whole mess has opened his eyes, Bri." Hannah replied.

"Well I'm glad some good's come out of it all. I think I'll go up and see if I can't get him to talk to Evan. They need to work things out before they go to bed. Evan's been chewing on this all day and letting them go to bed mad with each other just makes for a crappy tomorrow."

"Well, that sounds like a great idea. I'm gonna make some coffee. Would you mind telling Guth to get his shower? Hannah asked.

"What, he's not old enough to know he needs to take a shower?" Brian laughed.

"Brian, don't go there!" Hannah replied exasperated.

"Okay. I think Ford's in the shower right now and Evan called for it next, but I'll tell the boy to line up." He replied.

"Thank you." Hannah replied.

Brian crept up the stairs, thankful to hear peace and quiet. He had worried that once Evan went upstairs he and Guthrie would get into it.

He reached for the door knob to Hannah's and Adam's room, but stopped himself. He decided to show Guthrie a bit of respect. He knocked softly on the door. Hearing Guthrie's "come in" he opened the door and took a deep breath.

"Hey squirt." Brian began.

"Brian do you have to call me that?" Guthrie sighed. "I hate it... I'm not a squirt. I've grown almost three inches this year." He exclaimed.

"I know you have. Size doesn't make you a squirt. In fact, you're probably gonna be as tall as me in a few years, but you will always by a squirt to me." Brian said.

"Really? You think I'll be tall?" Guthrie replied.

"Yep. But you're still gonna be my squirt." Brian laughed as he mussed Guthrie's hair. He had eased down on the bed next to the boy.

"Brian, I'm in a mess, huh?" Guthrie said glumly.

"Yep." Brian answered.

"What should I do?" Guthrie asked.

"Well Guthrie, I'd say you've got two choices. One, you can keep acting like a complete jerk. Or, you can own up to everything you've done." Brian explained.

"I know. Daniel probably hates me. Is he really okay?" Guthrie asked desperately.

"Yeah, he's alright... But I doubt he's gonna feel up to any heart to heart chats." Brian replied. "You can talk to him tomorrow, maybe. But, I'm thinking you should talk to Evan tonight. You messed things up for him pretty good." Brian told him.

"I know. Do you know where he is?" Guthrie asked hopefully.

"He's in his room. Ford's in the shower, so now might be a good time." Brian offered.

"Okay, thanks Bri." Guthrie replied.

"And Hannah wanted me to remind you to get a shower." Brian said with a grin.

"Geez, I know I have to take a shower." Guthrie complained.

"Good, 'cause you sleep with me!" Brian teased.

7bf7b

Guthrie crept down the hallway and stopped in front of the door to Evan's room. Hearing the shower still running in the bathroom, Guthrie figured Evan was alone in his room now. He quietly knocked, feeling as nervous as he could ever remember.

"Come in." He heard Evan say.

Guthrie walked slowly through the door. He could see the agitation on Evan's face when he realized who was at the door.

"What do you want?" Evan asked irritatedly.

"Can I talk to you, Evan?" Guthrie asked nervously.

"Guthrie, I'm still mad at you, but I'm the one that came home late. Let's just leave it at that." Evan replied.

"No, I want to apologize. I shouldn't have ratted you out to Adam. I just did it 'cause I got mad." Guthrie said, apologetically.

"I know. That's what really hurt. You didn't do it because it was the right thing to do. You did it for spite. I wouldn't do that to you or any of my brothers." Evan complained.

"I'm really sorry, Evan. I learned my lesson. It was childish and I'm not a child. I promise you, I'm gonna do better from now on." Guthrie said, his eyes were pleading with Evan for forgiveness.

"Look Guthrie, it's done. I accept your apology, but don't ask me to trust you... not for a while, anyways." Evan explained. "But right now, I'm too worried about Daniel to hold a grudge with you. He got hurt at the bar tonight."

"I know. I have some things to set right with him, too." Guthrie replied glumly.

"Great. What did you do to him?" Evan asked irritatedly.

"Nothing, exactly. I just didn't do something he told me to do." Guthrie said, feeling more ashamed of himself than ever.

"Well, right now let's just hope he's alright." Evan replied.

"Brian told me he's gonna be okay. He's coming home with Adam and Crane now." Guthrie replied, hoping to make his brother feel better.

"Well, that's good. Look, Guthrie. I know I kick you around sometimes and I tease you, but it's because I love you. I mean, we all tease each other." Evan explained.

"I realize that Ev. I'm so sorry and I'm gonna try to make it up to you, honest." Guthrie said.

"Don't worry about it." Evan said.

"So, we're good?" Guthrie asked hopefully.

"Yeah, little bro, we're good." Evan said with a laugh. He couldn't stay mad at Guthrie. The kid was hopelessly adorable, even though he was growing up, it was hard for Evan to see him that way.

7bf7b

Brian watched eagerly as Crane and Adam helped Daniel out of the truck. He held the front door for them as they each stepped inside, Crane hanging on tightly to a weary looking Daniel.

Hannah heard the front door and rushed out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"How ya doin' partner?" Brian asked as he did a once over of Daniel noticing that he looked pale and his lips were pursed, as though he were in pain. He also noticed the bandage covering the stitches over his eye.

"I'm okay. Just a little headache. I'm ready to get some shut-eye if I can." Daniel replied.

"Your bed is ready for you hon." Hannah stated as she walked over and gave Daniel a quick hug.

"Thanks Hannah. I'm sorry I scared you." He replied sheepishly.

"That's okay. I'm just relieved that you're alright." She replied with a supportive smile.

"Well, I'm gonna get him upstairs and settled." Crane said, tugging gently on Daniel's arm, ready to lead him to the staircase.

"Get some rest. I guess we'll let you sleep in tomorrow." Adam said to him with a quick pat on the younger mans shoulder.

"Thanks, Adam. I'll have my feet back under me in a day or two." Daniel offered.

"Whatever it takes." Adam replied as he watched his brother's take the stairs.

"Evan and Ford are up there if you need a hand." Brian offered to Crane.

"Thanks, I can handle it though. I'll let them know we're home, so maybe than can stop worrying." Crane replied.

"Let me know if y'all need anything." Hannah offered.

"Okay, goodnight." Crane replied.

"Adam did you see Sophie and Eddie? How is he?" Hannah asked nervously.

"Yeah I checked in on them. Eddie came through surgery fine. He was sleeping. Sophie seemed okay, relieved... I guess, same as us." Adam answered.

"Did she say how long they are going to keep him?" Hannah continued her line of questioning.

"She said probably just a couple of days, if he continues to do well. I told her we would come visit tomorrow and I let her know that if she needed anything, not to hesitate to call us." Adam replied tiredly.

"Good. Thanks honey. I made some coffee and a fresh apple pie if either of you would like any." Hannah said to them.

"Thanks, Honey. I may take you up on that." Adam replied, then "Where's Guthrie?" He asked, turning to Brian.

With one look at Brian, Hannah sensed that he wanted to talk with Adam, so she excused herself and made her way back to the kitchen.

"He's getting a shower. He should be down in a few minutes." Brian replied. "Listen, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"What's on your mind, Bri?" Adam asked.

"Guthrie." Brian replied simply.

Adam took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Okay, what?" He replied.

"Well, first I gotta know what you said to Daniel about what happened at the creek. Did you come down on him?" Brian asked.

"No. I haven't really got into that with him. I figured I'd let him get some rest first. Why?" Adam asked curiously.

"Because I spoke with Guthrie. I'm sure he will tell you everything, but I just wanted to let you know that Daniel wasn't trying to cover for those boys. He told Guthrie to tell you about everything." Brian explained.

Adam let out a deep breath, agitation and understanding both showing in his features, Brian observed.

"I should have known." Adam said tiredly. "Well, for once at least, I held my tongue rather than sticking my foot in my mouth.

"Well, that's progress!" Brian said with an understanding laugh.

"Yeah. So, what do we do about Guthrie?" Adam asked.

"The kids feeling pretty bad about it all, I think. I had him have a talk with Evan and hopefully, they're good." Brian replied.

"Good. I appreciate you getting that one settled. Brian, that kid is really pushing it with me lately. I don't know what's gotten into him. I get it that he's feeling put out about having to obey all of us, but... I never expected him to defy me like he's done... and the lying, I can't put up with that." Adam said, exasperated.

"I know. We've gotta put a stop to that. He's a good kid, Adam and he's learning from his mistakes... But, whatever you think you need to do, I'll back you up. Maybe you should talk it over with Hannah. She's real good with him." Brian said.

He had decided for himself to take a back-seat to Adam this time. When it came to Guthrie, he had too much of a soft spot and preferred to leave the disciplining to big brother. But, he also knew that Adam could be too rash with his judgement at times. He would step in if needed, but he figured Hannah would be better equipped to keep Adam's quick temper in check.

"Yeah, she's really gotten close to him and he trusts her I think... probably more than she trusts any of us." Adam replied.

"She's been really good for him." Brian agreed.

"She's been good for all of us." Adam corrected.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hey, I'm gonna go up and grab a shower after I check in on Daniel. I'll send Guth downstairs." Brian offered.

"Yeah, we'll be in the kitchen." Adam said.

7bf7b

Guthrie heard the voices of his brothers as he came out of the bathroom. He had hoped to feel better after the shower, but he found that his anxiety was only growing. When he saw Daniel being helped to his room by Crane he felt both relief and guilt.

Relief at seeing Daniel upright and seemingly walking under his own power, even if he looked pale and tired... maybe even in pain, Guthrie noted.

Guilt at knowing he had broken their agreement. He had promised Daniel that he would come clean about nearly swinging off of the rope at the creek, but he hadn't.

Now Daniel was hurt and falsely accused of covering for Guthrie by Adam. For all Guthrie knew, Adam may have already come down on Daniel for that.

Even the thought of Daniel having to take the wrath of Adam in his current condition made Guthrie feel physically ill.

"Are you alright, Daniel?" Guthrie asked nervously.

"Yeah Guth. I'm okay, just go to bed, huh? I'll see you in the morning." Daniel replied, curtly.

"I'm sorry Daniel, really I am. Did Adam yell at you?" Guthrie asked anxiously.

"Huh? Uh, no." Daniel replied, seeming a bit confused at first, then apparently understanding what Guthrie was asking.

"Okay good. I'm going to talk to him now. I'm gonna tell him everything." Guthrie replied, relief washing over him.

"You do that." Daniel replied. Guthrie noticed the hurt in Daniel's eyes when Daniel paused briefly and made eye contact with him. It wasn't physical hurt. Guthrie knew he had disappointed Daniel. The mountain of guilt sitting on the boys shoulders suddenly got a lot heavier.

"I'm gonna straighten things out with Adam. I'll make sure he knows that you didn't cover for Eddie and me... I promise." Guthrie said, his eyes pleading for forgiveness.

"I said we're okay, Guth." Daniel replied, sounding a little annoyed. "Besides, Adam should know better than to think that of me anyway." Daniel said dully.

Guthrie noticed Crane wince at the comment and realized that Daniel had been hurt that Adam just assumed that he had done something wrong. He too, could hear it in Daniel's voice as clearly as he saw it in Crane's eyes.

Guthrie realized that while he could clear Daniel's_ name_ with Adam, he couldn't fix Daniel's _heart_. The damage had already been done and his brothers' would now pay the price.

The consequences of Guthrie's bad decision had become clear to him.


	14. Chapter 14

Choices chapter 14

"Honey, they're growing up. You can't watch over them every minute of the day. You have to let them make their own decisions." Guthrie heard Hannah say. He had slipped downstairs and overheard Hannah and Adam talking in the kitchen. He paused, suddenly afraid to have his conversation with Adam.

Guthrie had felt a renewed determination to confess everything to his eldest brother, after his brief conversation with Daniel.

Hearing Adam's voice though, had once again caused the fear and anxiety to surface again. He stopped and continued to listen quietly to their conversation.

"I know Hannah. I try, really I do. I've just been responsible for them all for so long." Adam replied, sounding exasperated.

"Yes, but Brian, Crane and Daniel are grown. Evan's only got a month left of his senior year. He could be out on the rodeo circuit before we know it. You need to realize that they have their own lives to live." Hannah said softly.

"So, how do I do that? Huh? How do I just turn them loose on the world and not worry?" Adam asked.

"We are always gonna worry, but... it's what all parents have to do, Adam. We have to let them grow up. Daniel is trying to do his music _and_ fulfill his responsibilities here on the ranch. Other than square dances and the county fair, those bars are his only chance to play his music around here. It wasn't really fair of you to go off on him like that." Hannah said.

"I know that. It's just... when I saw him standing there bleeding, I just lost it. I hadn't even had the chance to process Eddie's accident. I was thinking how lucky we were that it wasn't Guthrie laid up in that hospital... or worse and I turned around and there was Daniel banged up. They just don't know how scared I am. I cannot bury another member of this family, Hannah, I just can't!" Adam said, banging his fist down on the table. "I almost lost my mind last year. Going through it all I kept remembering how alone I felt when mom and dad were killed. I felt it all over again when those boys were trapped in that mine. It looked hopeless, and I couldn't do anything to save them. Tom was basically telling us there was no hope of getting them out in time... Hannah, that was more than I could handle. Then, I had all of five minutes to feel some relief for having them out and then Daniel collapsed... It was just too much. I cannot go through anything like that again." He said with a trembling voice.

"It's okay Adam. I understand how you feel, but you can't keep bad things from happening and you _know _it." Hannah said, wrapping her arms around Adam's shoulders and kissing him softly on the neck.

"Yeah, but after last year... not to mention our parents... I just always expect the worst." Adam said, his voice hitching. "It's impossible to watch over them every minute of the day, but now Guthrie is rebelling. Running off where ever he pleases, not checking in. If something happens to him, I'll never forgive myself."

Guthrie felt tears welling up. He hated to be the cause of Adam's worry. This is not at all what he intended. He just wanted to gain some respect from his brothers, but instead he had caused each of them heartache.

Guthrie quietly stepped into the kitchen. "Adam? I need to talk to you." Guthrie said, surprised at how small his own voice sounded. "Hannah, you too.

Adam sat stoically, eyeing his baby brother with much trepidition. Hannah was looking at Guthrie with compassion. He knew she loved him and he knew he had let her down.

"Guthrie, I wanted to sleep on things before we talk. It's been such a long day." Adam offered.

"No, Adam. I need to talk to you both tonight, if it's okay." Guthrie said, desparation clear in his voice.

"Alright. Have a seat. Guthrie sat down at the table. Adam was next to him and Hannah directly across the table.

"We're all ears Guthrie." Hannah offered sweetly.

"Well, first of all. I overheard what you were just saying to Hannah, Adam. I'm sorry to eavesdrop... but I just couldn't help it." Guthrie admitted.

"That's okay. So, what is it that you want to say?" Adam asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I'm really sorry that I didn't tell the truth today. Daniel told me to tell you everything about the creek. I promised him that I would, but then I got mad at you because I felt like you weren't really hearing me." Guthrie offered.

"I was hearing you Guthrie, but you are only thirteen and you have to obey me. I know that it doesn't seem fair to have so many people telling you what to do, but it's the way this family works." Adam said.

"I know. I've been trying to tell you all how I feel, I just don't know how to say it. I just feel like I'm not treated like an equal part of this family. Nobody ever listens to me. This is my ranch too, but the rest of you treat me like I don't matter. But, today I realize that I do matter. You all are just trying to protect me because you care about me so much." Guthrie said with tears in his eyes.

"I'm glad you _know_ that now. You see Guthrie, we just want more for you. We want you to be a kid and not worry about our problems until you have too. At your age, you should be having fun. You should be thinking about your schooling and dreaming about what you want to be when you do grow up. None of us want you to have to grow up too soon. We all want better for you." Adam explained, his voice noticeably hitching.

"Guthrie, Adam's right. We want you to have as normal a childhood as you can. We want you to want that for yourself. But, you are right about one thing. You're not a child. You're growing up fast. My personal wish for you is to have the opportunity to hold on to these young years. They really should be the best time of your life." Hannah explained, reaching over the table to take Guthrie's hand in hers. "I love you. You are my brother. Actually, you are more than my brother. You are like a son to me. You are smart, handsome and talented. You can be anything you want to be."

"Thank you Hannah. All I want is to be a rancher... Like you, Adam. I want to be just like you." Guthrie said, eyes pleading to Adam for understanding.

"I'm flattered, but I want you to be _better_ than me. I've made some big mistakes, Guth. With all of you. I realize now that I've been too overprotective lately. I promise to work on that. But kiddo, I love you more than you can ever know. I'm trying to bring you up with a good set of values. But, I promise that if you respect my rules, I will work really hard to return that respect. The fact is, you are not a little kid anymore and it's hard for me to see you as anything else." Adam said, his voice still full of emotion. Guthrie thought he could even see moisture in Adam's eyes.

"I understand. Adam, I promise that I won't lie to you anymore. I will follow your rules. Adam, I know you didn't have to be my dad, but you have been a really good one. I want you to know that I appreciate it. I'm gonna try really hard to earn back your respect and to make you proud of me." Guthrie said, a lone tear escaping and spilling down his cheek.

Adam, overwrought with emotion, reached over and pulled Guthrie into a big hug.

"Boy, don't you know that I already am proud of you? So very proud. You are going to make a hell of a good man one day." Adam whispered into Guthrie's ear.

"If I do, I have you and Hannah... and all my other brothers to thank for it." Guthrie cried. "I love you Adam. I love you so, so much. You too Hannah." Guthrie said, releasing Adam to walk over to hug a very tearful Hannah.

"I love you too, Guthrie. So very much and I am proud of you too." Hannah said, smoothing Guthrie's hair as she embraced him.

"I apologized to Evan and Daniel earlier." Guthrie said, pulling away from Hannah and wiping his tears on his sleeve.

"Good man." Adam said. "Listen, it's been a long day and we all need to get some shut eye. You're still grounded, but Hannah and me are gonna go to the hospital tomorrow to see Eddie if you would like to go with us." Adam offered, patting Guthrie on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Adam. I really do want to go see him. I'm gonna go to bed now." Guthrie offered. "I'm gonna do Daniel's morning chores, after I do my own so I need to get my rest."

"I appreciate that, Guth. I know he will too. Goodnight boy. I love you." Adam said.

"Goodnight. I love y'all." Guthrie said, his heart feeling better than it had in a long, long while.

"Goodnight Guthrie." Hannah said, smiling.

After Guthrie left the kitchen, Adam sat staring into space.

"Penny for your thoughts." Hannah said with a smile.

"I was just thinking about how much he's grown up in just a day." Adam explained.

"He's been growing up on us for a while, we were just forced to _see_ it today." Hannah said.

"I guess I have to let him grow up. Guess I have to let them all grow up." Adam said with a tired sigh.

"Yes, because if you don't, you won't have time to raise _our _kids." Hannah said mischieviously.

"You're not trying to tell me something, are you Hannah?" Adam said, suddenly full of animation.

"Not exactly. But I wouldn't mind trying for it soon." Hannah smiled.

"No time like the present!" Adam said and playfully picked her up. "Let's go get started!" He laughed.

"Okay, okay." Hannah laughed. "Just promise me that you'll make a girl? There's too much testosterone in this house already." She said giggling as she tilted her head upwards to plant a kiss on his lips.

"You gotta deal, girl!" He laughed, carrying her through the living room and up the stairs.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen

Guthrie McFadden stared at the swimming hole. Surprisingly, it being the first day of summer vacation, he had expected to find many of his friends here, but he seemed to be the first one to show up. He remembered his promise to Adam and Hannah, then later to Brian that he would not go swimming alone. There was safety in numbers and Adam had always told his brothers to make sure they had a swimming buddy along. Their reason was logical. If someone were to catch a cramp, get snakebitten, or any of a number of things that can go wrong while swimming, at least there is another person there to get you out of trouble or at least go for help.

It didn't matter, Guthrie had not really cared to go swimming. He was just getting away from the ranch for a little while. His brothers had called a family meeting several weeks ago and they had each made a promise to Guthrie that they would stop treating him as a child. They had followed up on their promise. Guthrie was both gratified and annoyed at the same time. He found out really quickly that being treated more like an adult wasn't all he had hoped. He had more chores now and he couldn't use his childlike wiles to get out of them to slip away and go have fun with his friends. He had figured that's what Crane had meant when he said, _remember, be careful what you wish for._

Of course, he had been grounded for two weeks by Adam. Guthrie had graciously accepted his punishment. He figured that was what a real man would do. It was a hard age to be for sure. Daniel had tried to explain that to him but he had been less than willing to listen. With the grounding over, he had the entire summer ahead of him, but Hannah had reminded him nearly every day since that day at the swimming hole when Eddie was hurt, to always think before he acted on an impulse.

He had felt horrible for Eddie when he saw him laid up in the hospital in pain. He had been true to his word to Hannah that he would keep his best friend company and bring him his work. Eddie did well despite the pain he'd been in at first. He had been getting pretty grumpy though, with school ending and him on crutches. He couldn't climb or go swimming or any of the fun things boys his age would be doing during their summer break. Guthrie vowed to Eddie to spend time with him every day and help him make his summer fun.

Guthrie stared at the limb of the old Oak tree, absent of the rope Joey had put up the day everything had gone so horribly wrong. Brian and Evan had taken the rope down the day after Eddie's accident. Guthrie was thinking back to that day now and the day after, remembering how pitiful Daniel looked at breakfast, making Guthrie feel even more terrible about breaking his promise. But Daniel had acted normal towards him, thankfully. The symptoms of his concussion were unnoticable and Daniel had bounced back quickly, much to everyone's relief. The neurologist had given him a clean bill of health. Going to see Eddie after breakfast that morning had not made Guthrie feel very good about any of it.

His best friend looked terrible. Pale, groggy and in pain; it had unnerved Guthrie. He wished with all that was in him that he had asked Eddie to leave with he and Daniel that day. Daniel was his big brother and he was trying to look out for them both. But, instead of being grateful to Daniel, Guthrie had resented him. He had left Eddie there, actually feeling envious that his best friend had no big brother there to tell him what to do. One look at Eddie let Guthrie know just how lucky _he_ was to have big brothers to look out for him.

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" Adam's voice startled Guthrie out of his daydreaming.

"Nothing really." Guthrie replied, looking up at his eldest brother who had walked up and was now standing beside him. "what are you doing out here?" Guthrie asked curiously. He tried to ignore the thought running through his mind. _You're already checking up on me._

"Well, Brian and I have something we need to take care of and we'd like you to go along with us." Adam replied, sounding more animated than usual.

"What is it?" Guthrie asked curiously.

"You'll have to come with us and find out, I suppose." Adam replied.

Guthrie's couldn't begin to guess what was going on. He could sense a sort of playfulness in Adam's tone that had been absent lately. He knew his own behavior had played a big part in his eldest brothers' mood these days.

Guthrie followed behind Adam back up the path that led to the creek bed and then continued to follow him home in utter silence. Even though his curiosity was very much peaked, he was trying very hard to remain stoic. He was trying very hard not to act like a little kid.

When the two brothers' made it back to the ranch, Guthrie noticed Brian and Evan mulling about next to the barn. When Guthrie made eye contact with Brian, he sensed the same lightheartedness in him that he had sensed in Adam. When he looked at Evan and Evan looked back at him, he was positively beaming.

"What's going on?" Guthrie asked impatiently. He had taken all he could of being left in the dark. Something was up and he couldn't take not knowing anymore.

"Well Guth, it's like this. We've all been thinking. Since you feel that you are ready to make a bigger contribution to the family business, we figured you're gonna need the right equipment." Brian said with a grin.

"Huh?" Guthrie exclaimed, looking up at Brian, feeling more confused than ever.

"Shoot Guthrie, as far as I'm concerned, you're long overdue. We were all younger than you are now when we got ours." Evan said, pushing his cowboy hat off of his forehead, revealing sparkling, michieveous eyes.

"Y'all tell him yet?" Guthrie heard Daniel ask, then turned around to stare at yet another brother that was obviously clued in on the big secret.

"Tell me what?" Guthrie asked Daniel, then turned to back to stare at Evan and continued his questioning. "You guys got what when you were younger than me?"

"Guthrie, if you're going to be a rancher then it's high time we got you your own horse." Adam explained.

"What?" Guthrie asked in amazement. He hadn't even come close to guessing this secret.

"Guth, you're the only rancher I know that doesn't have his own mount. We know you like driving the jeep, but it's a little impractical on roundups." Daniel said as he walked up beside Guthrie and swatted him on the back.

"But... but, it's so expensive. How can we afford a horse right now?" Guthrie asked in confusion.

"Well, everybody's pitching in. Half of the money is coming from the ranch emergency fund and Brian, Crane and Daniel are making up the rest." Adam answered.

"I don't want you guys to spend all of your money on me!" Guthrie said, his voice hitching at the end of his sentence.

"Relax, Guthrie. Shoot me and Crane didn't have all that much to contribute. Most of it's coming from Dan'l here." Brian explained as he grabbed Daniel around the neck and squeezed.

Guthrie was speechless. He stared in wonderment at Daniel. This was much too generous. Guthrie knew that Daniel had been saving his gig money for years. He was likely the only McFadden with any bank roll to speak of. But Guthrie knew that Daniel was saving up so that if the right opportunity came along, he could leave Murphys and pursue a music career. Guthrie knew he couldn't take that kind of money from Daniel.

"No. I don't need a horse. Daniel, you can't spend all of your money on me. It's not fair." Guthrie said, suddenly sounding miserable.

"I can spend it on whatever I please, Guth. It's my money. The truth is, we haven't exactly been fair to you kiddo. You should have had a horse way before now. I aim to set that right." Daniel stated emphatically.

"But, you've been working so hard to save it. I know what that money's for Daniel and I have no right to take it." Guthrie said.

Daniel studied his younger brother. He could see that his argument was genuine and it touched him. He reached out to Guthrie and led him by the shoulder inside the barn so they could be alone.

"Look Guthrie. I don't want you to worry about the money I'm spending. I'm not spending my whole savings. I still have money left. It's just that Adam was coming up short on funds and the guys and me were so excited for you to have a horse of your own that we decided to do this. We love you Guthrie. In a way, you are helping me realize my dream." Daniel said with a genuine smile.

"How?" Guthrie asked.

"Well. I lay in bed at night and just dream of the day I might get a record deal. I think about what it would be like to have all that money. Every night I make lists in my head of all the things I'm going to buy for the ranch and for all of you. I get so excited that I can't sleep some nights. I imagine buying brand new tractors and pickups for all you guys and paying cash for livestock, all new fencing; stuff like that. That's what makes me happy. So don't you see? Even though I'm not rich yet, I've already earned enough with my music to do something really cool for you. You wouldn't want to deny me that, would you?"

Guthrie stared at his big brother. The look on Daniel's face was genuine. This was really making him happy. Guthrie didn't feel deserving of any of this, but he could truly see that this was making Daniel happy.

"Thank you Daniel," Guthrie said, wiping away the tears that had already begun to streak down his cheeks. "You're the best brother in the world." He continued.

"Wow. That's a big compliment, considering all the competition I have!" Daniel said with a laugh. That silly, high pitched laugh that always made everybody smile. In that moment, Guthrie for the first time pondered what their home would be like without that silly laugh, if Daniel ever did leave them. He started to miss his big brother and he was standing right there with him.

"I mean it, Daniel. After the way I acted last month, I wouldn't think you'd want to spend money on me. I don't deserve it, but I really, really appreciate it. You don't know how much I appreciate it." Guthrie said.

"Well, you'd better get a move on and go pick out that horse before I change my mind!" Daniel said with a smile. As he turned to walk back to the others, Daniel felt Guthrie's arms wrap around his waist from behind. He turned around to return Guthrie's hug. As he embraced his baby brother, he noticed how tall the boy was getting. A tinge of sadness went through him. The boy really was growing up. Daniel realized that this truly was an important right of passage for Guthrie and he silently thanked God that he was able to help do this for him.

"I'm proud of you Guth. You're gonna be a good man. I want you to know that it took guts for you to admit you were wrong and I'm really impressed with how well you took your punishment. You've been a big help to us all and you haven't complained once in three weeks." Daniel said, his face beaming with pride.

"Hey Daniel? Will you come with me and help me choose my horse? I don't want to make the wrong choice on something this important." Guthrie asked.

"Who me? Don'tcha think Evan or Brian would be a better choice than me? I mean, if you were choosing a guitar I could see it, but your horse?" Daniel asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Nope. I want _you_ to help me choose it." Guthrie said with conviction.

"Sure kiddo... um if I can still call you that?" Daniel laughed.

"I guess I can let you slide every once in a while." Guthrie replied, laughing. "I love you big brother." He said.

"I love you, too." Daniel replied. Arm in arm, they walked out of the barn and to the truck, Guthrie feeling as though he were the luckiest person in the whole world. He decided that maybe being thirteen wasn't so bad after all.

The end


End file.
